Hillary Clinton Releases Additional Medical Information

Her doctor says she is in "excellent mental condition" and is on the road to recovery from pneumonia.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton leaves her daughter's apartment after resting on Sept. 11.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton leaves her daughter's apartment after resting on Sept. 11.
Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Hillary Clinton’s campaign released additional medical information Wednesday, including more details on the Democratic presidential nominees latest bout of pneumonia.

A Clinton campaign official said the 68-year-old former secretary of state received a non-contrast chest CT scan on Friday that revealed a mild, non-contagious form of bacterial pneumonia. She was treated with Levaquin, an antibiotic, and advised to take it for 10 days.

“She is recovering well with antibiotics and rest. She continues to remain healthy and fit to serve as President of the United States,” said Clinton’s physician, Dr. Lisa Bardack.

Bardack characterized Clinton’s last physical as “normal” and said the Democratic nominee “is in excellent mental condition.”

“My overall impression is that Mrs. Clinton has remained healthy and has not developed new medical conditions this year other than a sinus and ear infection and her recently diagnosed pneumonia,” the doctor’s letter said.

The campaign also released the medical details of Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Clinton’s vice presidential running mate. His doctor said he is in “overall excellent health.” He works out three times a week, takes no medications, has no history of tobacco use and drinks alcohol in “modest” amounts, it notes.

The release comes on the same day that Republican nominee Donald Trump shared some details about his own health with Dr. Mehmet Oz, on Oz’s eponymous TV show. Trump revealed that he weighs 267 pounds, takes medication to manage his cholesterol and gets annual cancer screenings.

Trump has not, however, released the same depth of medical details. Until now, the only information on his health was a letter from his longtime physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, in which he said the nominee’s health was “astonishingly excellent.” Bornstein later said the letter took him only five minutes to write.

Clinton’s medical details come as her campaign seeks to deflect criticism from both allies and opponents over its decision to withhold the news that Clinton had been diagnosed with pneumonia last Friday.

When the Democratic nominee stumbled leaving an event honoring the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York on Sunday, her campaign initially blamed the heat, saying Clinton had become “overheated.”

It was not until hours later that Clinton’s campaign released a statement from Bardack revealing the pneumonia diagnosis. Clinton spent the first part of this week recuperating at her home in Chappaqua, New York, while her husband, former President Bill Clinton, filled in for her at campaign events. According to Clinton’s campaign, the nominee plans to return to the campaign trail Thursday.

Trump and his supporters have been questioning Clinton’s health for months. (Clinton is actually two years younger than the GOP presidential nominee.) He has called her “low energy” and said she likes to take naps. And last week, conservative media made hay out of Clinton’s coughing spells.

This post has been updated with information on the release of Kaine’s medical information.

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.


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