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Health and Medical History of President William ClintonPresident #42: 1993-2001
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Lived 1946-Now
2021
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| This style... | ... means the event occurred while President. |
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 tonsillectomy |
Bill Clinton had a tonsillectomy in 1952, at age 6
1a.
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 near drowning |
At age 19, Clinton almost drowned at a beach party in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
A strong tide had carried him about 100 yards out to sea. Another 19-year-old,
Fife Symington, took a rowboat out to get him and years later remembered:
I reached down and grabbed him by his hair, which there was a lot, and he's a big guy and I lifted him up and said "you need a ride?", And I flipped him into the boat and he was coughing, and he lacerated his chest, because he'd been raked over some shoals and brought him to shore that was it. ... He said I saved his life; he was in trouble, there's no doubt about that. 2(Symington later became governor of Arizona, but resigned because of legal troubles. Clinton, then president, pardoned him. 2) |
  GE reflux |
Clinton "has been troubled by gastrointestinal symptoms which have been attributed to
reflux esophagitis."
These symptoms included "bouts of heartburn"
1b.
Treatment included elimination of certain foods (e.g. caffeine), antacid medication, and sleeping
on a wedge
1c.
As Clinton prepared to leave office, his medical regimen was simplified because afterwards
"he will be in charge of taking his own medications"
MORE.
Comment:
The condition has several other names, including gastroesophageal reflux, GE reflux, and GERD.
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rectal bleeding |
Clinton underwent colonoscopy in 1984 because of rectal bleeding. It showed "no evidence
of significant pathology including polyps or tumorous growths"
1d.
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 strained knee ligament |
Left knee ligament strain in 1984
1b.
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 cardiac risk |
Clinton's cholesterol level, and, more generally, his overall cardiovascular risk, were a concern
as early as 1992. Details are summarized on an accessory web page, where Dr. Zebra does
some rather unattractive ranting, but it's in the good cause of getting more people to take
statin medications...
MORE.
In sum, Clinton had five exercise tolerance tests while President; it was felt at his last
Presidential physical examination (in 2001) that another such test was unwarranted. He started
taking simvastatin (Zocor) at that time, because of elevated cholesterol levels, as discussed
in a press conference
MORE.
In September 2004 Clinton needed urgent coronary bypass surgery (see below).
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 height & weight |
Clinton is 6 feet 2 inches tall, or perhaps 6 feet 2.5 inches tall
3.
From 1992 to 2001 his weight varied from 236 to 214 pounds
MORE.
The lower height and a weight of 226 gives him a body mass index of 29.1 kg/m/m -- overweight,
but not quite obese.
After leaving office, Clinton was on the South Beach diet for an unknown time, and did
lose weight
4
-- and then needed a bypass operation.
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 hearing aids |
bilateral
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vocal cords |
For a year before the 1992 election, an otolaryngologist managed the frequent hoarseness Clinton
would get from voice overuse. Nasal allergies and reflux esophagitis were felt to contribute
to the problem
1e.
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 allergic rhinitis |
Before his election, at least, Clinton was taking Hismanal (astemizole) for "environmental
allergies." Consequences of his allergic rhinitis included: "sinus congestion, nasal
drainage, and occasional swelling of the temporal area." A sinus window was surgically
constructed in 1979
1b.
An allergist evaluated him in autumn 1991 and reported
1e:
He [Clinton] has a history of nasal congestion, swelling of his eyes, and difficulty breathing through his nose. His nasal congestion was so severe in the spring of 1991 that he had difficulty running. There is no history of wheezing, asthma, or severe allergic reaction. His signs and symptoms are worse in the fall. He is noted to be a nonsmoker.Skin testing showed moderate reactions to house dust, mold spores, cat dander, weed pollen, grass pollen, beef, and milk. Allergy injections were prescribed, and he tolerated them well. By 1992 "he was on the usual maintenance dose and was taking his injections every two weeks, depending on symptoms" 1b. Clinton continued to have allergy symptoms while President. |
 refused anthrax vaccine |
The day after the U.S. military announced it would vaccinate its members against anthrax in
1997, President Clinton said he did not plan to be vaccinated
5.
Editorial: Dr. Zebra is a little bitter over this failure of leadership. Clinton's
refusal lent credence to the crackpots and conspiracy theorists who used anthrax vaccination
to sow suspicion and discontent in the military. (To his credit, Secretary of Defense Cohen
was immunized.)
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 counseling |
"In 1992, when Bill Clinton was running for President, up came the question of psychiatric
history. No, was the reply; he had received counselling for some stressful family matters,
but no psychiatric treatment. After revelations of Clinton's White House escapades, he announced
a self-prescribed treatment course: periodic meetings with three clergymen to obtain guidance
for his return to marital rectitude"
6.
Mrs. Clinton has commented that, beginning after August 1998, "We spent a lot of time
in counseling, and I found it very helpful"
7.
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torn knee tendon |
At the home of golfer Greg Norman in March 1997, Clinton caught his heel on a step and tore
50% of his right quadriceps tendon. (The tendon connects the kneecap to the quadriceps muscle
of the thigh.) Clinton heard the tear as a "very loud pop." He underwent a two-hour
operation under regional anesthesia to repair the tendon, followed by weeks with a knee brace
and crutches
8.
Had the operation required general anesthesia, Clinton had planned to transfer Presidential
authority to Vice President Gore under terms of the
25th Amendment
9.
Clinton was awake during the entire operation and "was alert most of the time"
8.
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 cyst removed |
A benign cyst was removed from Clinton's chest in 1995.
Comment:
Based on comments after Clinton's 2001 physical examination, this seems to have been a sebaceous
cyst.
MORE
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nose lesion removed |
A precancerous growth on the skin of Clinton's nose was removed in 1996 with liquid nitrogen.
Comment:
Based on comments after Clinton's 2001 physical examination, this seems to have been an actinic
keratosis
MORE.
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genital morphology |
Claiming then-Governor Clinton propositioned her and exposed himself
to her in 1991, Paula Jones filed suit against him in 1994.
In a sworn affadivit,
leaked to the press in order to humiliate then-President Clinton
10,
she claimed to have seen Clinton's genitalia and
described three "distinguishing characteristics" of his penis, namely
its length, circumference, and angulation
11.
Clinton's attorney responded:
"In terms of size, shape, direction,
whatever the devious mind wants to concoct, the President is a normal man.
There are no blemishes, there are no moles, there are no growths."
11
(Monica Lewinsky also disagreed with Jones' description
12.)
By February 1998 the hoopla over this particular facet had muted.
The "distinguishing characteristics" claim, for example, is rarely mentioned anymore since Bennett [Clinton's attorney] obtained medical testimony that he said disputes her description. Jones's current lawyers have said that is not a principal part of their case. 13Jones dropped her case in November 1998, after a settlement. Comment: Jones' description is not reprinted here. It lacks the detail necessary to determine whether Clinton has "Peyronie disease," which has been a topic of speculation. It is interesting, however, that Clinton had an exuberant fibrotic reaction in his chest after his coronary bypass operation. Fibrosis is the basis of Peyronie disease. Comment: The House of Representatives impeached Clinton on December 19, 1998, thereby helping establish "Dr. Zebra's Law" which states: "Any president whose genital morphology becomes a topic of public discussion will be impeached." See the page for Donald Trump. |
 basal cell carcinoma |
Biopsy of a lesion on Clinton's back, discovered during a routine physical examination on January
12, 2001, disclosed basal cell carcinoma. It was removed in January 2001, to little fanfare.
MORE
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acne rosacea |
At his 2001 physical, this was described as "well controlled"
MORE.
|
 coronary bypass |
On Sept. 2, 2004, Clinton was evaluated at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York for chest
pain and shortness of breath. Results were normal, and Clinton went home. The next day, further
evaluation at the Westchester Medical Center (probably a cardiac angiogram) led to the recommendation
for urgent four-vessel coronary bypass grafting
4.
MORE
Clinton ultimately underwent successful bypass.
Comment:
Apparently Clinton had unstable angina, not a heart attack. Dr. Zebra has not, however,
seen this explicitly mentioned in published reports. Angina (a type of chest discomfort) occurs
when heart muscle is starved for oxygen. This starvation may or may not cause part of the starved
muscle to die. By contrast, a heart attack ("myocardial infarction") has occurred
when part of the heart muscle has died, however small. Blood tests are the best way to distinguish
angina from a heart attack.
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 decortication surgery |
On March 10, 2005 Clinton had an elective operation to correct a complication of his coronary
bypass. Called "decortication," the operation removed part of the lining around the
lower lobe of the left lung, the lining having become much thicker than usual as a result of
the irritation caused by the bypass
14.
He tolerated the operation well
15.
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I knew I would never get used to the Secret Service agent posted outside our bedroom door. This was standard operating procedure for past Presidents, and the Secret Service was adament, at first, about keeping it that way. "What if the President has a heart attack in the middle of the night?" one agent asked me when I suggested he station himself downstairs instead of with us on the second floor. "He's 46 years old and in great health," I said. "He's not going to have a heart attack!"Comment: I made some guesses about President Clinton's cardiac risk factors at age 46 and used the Framingham equation 17 to estimate his cumulative risk of a heart attack as 0.08 (i.e. 8%) over the following 10 years. Assuming heart attacks occur uniformly throughout the day (a false assumption), his risk of a nocturnal heart attack is about 0.027. Dividing by the number of nights in 10 years, the average per-night risk is 0.000007.
| Before Presidency | During Presidency | After Presidency |
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 832 reviews
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a pp.297, 298 b p.298 c p.300 d pp.298-299 e p.299 f p.297
Comment: Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
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| Comment: Accessed through washingtonpost.com: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/tall080399.htm |
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| Comment: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59226-2004Sep3.html |
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| Comment: http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9703/14/nfm/knee/ |
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| Comment: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/09/23/wh.doctors/ |
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| Comment: Accessed from Washingtonpost.com |
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| Comment: Accessed from Washingtonpost.com |
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| Comment: This magazine article is an excerpt of Mrs. Clinton's book Living History. |
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| Comment: Another fascinating web page from Dr. Zebra! |
| Comment: This was reported by a reader. I have not checked the reference myself. |
5 reviews