Obama & Biden Health Concerns? Truth! & Fiction!

Obama & Biden Health Concerns-Truth! & Fiction!

Summary of eRumor:

An eRumor warning that Senator Obama still smokes, has a medical history of both parents dying at an early age and Senator Biden has had two brain aneurysms.  If they were to both die while in office the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, would take over as President.

The Truth:

The Los Angeles Times reported on May 30, 2008 that the Democratic Campaign released a doctor’s letter that Barack Obama was in “in excellent health”.  The letter, by his longtime physician, stated that although the Senator had not undergone a physical examination for sixteen months that he was physically able to serve as President of the United States.   The report also mentioned that the presidential candidate was struggling to quit smoking tobacco.

On August 25, 2008, Fox News reported that the chief of surgery at Mt. Sinai Hospital,  Dr. Michael Marin, said that Senator Biden, despite his history of aneurysms, was healthy enough to serve as Vice President.   In 1988 Biden had corrective surgery to repair two berry aneurysms, which get their name from the tiny blueberry type of bulge that they make on blood vessels.  Regular checkups and CT scans are the prescribed treatment for early detection, according to the article, and as long as a patient gets an examination every one to two years he should have a normal life expectancy.

USA TODAY reported on August. 30, 2008 that Senator Biden had two surgeries for brain aneurysms in 1988.

The US Constitution has a provision in the event that if neither President or Vice President are able to serve that Congress provide a law to name who would be next in line.  According to the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the Speaker of the House would be the next in line to replace the President.  Nancy Pelosi is currently the Speaker of the House.

 

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updated 9/24/08