Something Left Out
Well, Dr. Lisa Bardack of Mount Kisco, New York, went out today on a limb. In her two page letter describing Hillary Clinton’s medical condition that was released today, Dr. Bardack took great pains to appear thorough and professional. She described quite a number of laboratory tests and gives some numerical results as well. She lists portions of her physical examination. She enumerates medications that Mrs. Clinton is taking. She mentions a number of minor health issues that have warranted simple measures of medical care. She concludes that Mrs. Clinton is suffering from nothing more than “mild non contagious pneumonia” and even goes on to say that Mrs. Clinton has NOT developed any new medical conditions. Seems quite thorough, right? Pretty convincing, right?
Wrong!
It appears that Dr. Bardack has left something out! Something very important. And since Dr. Bardack is well credentialed, I am going to assume that she KNOWS what she left out. So, what is the omission? What was left out?
The answer, dear reader, has to do with the nature of “non contagious pneumonia.” It turns out that THE MAJOR CAUSE of “non contagious pneumonia” is a condition that I described in my post from Sept 12, 2016 (“It’s All Coming Together”). That condition is called ASPIRATION PNEUMONIA. Simply put, aspiration is a condition where saliva, secretions or even food or beverages go down the trachea (wind pipe) rather than the esophagus (food pipe). In common terms, people say that something went down the “wrong pipe”. This condition is very important in the analysis of Mrs. Clinton’s health because it indicates a very serious underlying neurological condition. And that underlying condition has profound consequences for any individual seeking the presidency of the United States.
Now there are two theories being considered at present regarding the nature of the underlying disease. One theory is that Mrs. Clinton has Parkinson’s Syndrome which often includes difficulties with swallowing, which, in turn, could result in aspiration and the ensuing pneumonia. This theory has been carefully formulated by Dr. Ted Noel and can be viewed in his video post. A second theory revolves around the possibility of a brain stem stroke that can alter a person’s gag reflex, leading to aspiration and pneumonia as well. Favoring Parkinson’s (with L-dopa medication side effects) is her bizarre movements and, possibly orthostatic hypotension (her tendency toward fainting). Arguing against Parkinson’s is her gait which does not look typically Parkinsonian and the lack of the characteristic Parkinsonian facies. Arguing for the brain stem stroke is her transient fourth cranial nerve palsy and the strong tendency of brain stem stroke to cause altered gag reflex. This would go along very well with the episodes of severe coughing that we have seen on several videos.
Further discussion of the relative merits of each theory is beyond the scope of this essay, but I think it should be VERY clear that either of these diagnoses is quite serious, and, in my opinion, would disqualify a candidate for the presidency. By the way, these diagnoses are not mutually exclusive, and it would be possible for her to have BOTH conditions to one degree or another.
So it appears that Dr. Bardack left something VERY important out of her report today. I hope it was intentional.