Health concerns that have dogged Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for months burst to the forefront Sunday when she abruptly left a 9/11 commemoration ceremony due to illness, and her campaign later reluctantly acknowledged that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia days earlier.
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Clinton was diagnosed on Friday, but her condition only came to light several hours after a video on social media appeared to show her swaying and her knees buckling before she is helped into a motorcade as she left the memorial early on Sunday.
“I have just examined her and she is now rehydrated and recovering nicely”, Dr. Lisa R. Bardack said in a statement.
Hillary Clinton has cancelled a campaign trip to California while she recovers from pneumonia, a campaign official has said.
Clinton was already under pressure to offer additional details about her physical fitness, most recently after a lengthy coughing fit interrupted a speech she was delivering in Cleveland last week.
Some Clinton allies said the incident underscored the candidate’s resilience.
Along with taking blood-thinning medication, Clinton takes medication for hypothyroidism, a condition in which her thyroid gland is underactive and doesn’t produce enough important hormones, according to Bardack’s report.
“It was an impressive feat of physical strength that undermined weeks of health conspiracies”. But the other basket - and I know this because I see friends from all over America here - I see friends from Florida and Georgia and SC and Texas - as well as, you know, NY and California - but that other basket of people are people who feel that the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures, and they’re just desperate for change. Her aides had to physically support her as she stumbled into her campaign van.
If Trump is being asked to repeatedly atone for his birther campaign against President Barack Obama and other serious missteps of his campaign, Clinton should do the same.
“I don’t think age should be used at all”, Olshansky said. But I’ve been warning about her health for months. “It means less speculation”, Jackson said.
Last year, Clinton’s campaign released a letter from Bardack attesting to the former secretary of state’s good health. It is in their best interest to disclose anything in the future, he said, rather than have it leaked or exposed via another episode like Sunday’s.
As the solemn ceremony began at the site of the World Trade Center that was attacked by two hijacked airliners 15 years ago, there was patchy sunlight, with temperatures at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (26.6 Celsius). The weather was warm and humid in NY on Sunday, and there was a breeze at the crowded memorial plaza during the ceremony.
That’s why this health issue is going to be hard for Clinton and can’t fester.
The suspicion also underscores the widespread distrust of Mrs. Clinton and the belief that she is deceptive.
While the stumbling and pneumonia are harmless on the surface, other theories regarding Clinton’s health have sprung up over the past few months from numerous news outlets.
Thanks to the likes of Rudy Giuliani and a small but vocal element of the Republican base, talk of her health had been bubbling over the past week – triggered by a coughing episode she experienced during a Labour Day rally. She then resumed her speech.
He outlined many of Mrs. Clinton’s purported health issues and video of her displaying odd mannerisms to make the case that she is concealing an advanced stage of the neurological disorder.
In 2008, Republican nominee John McCain made public more than a thousand pages of his medical history to show he was cancer-free and fit to serve as president at age 71.
But Clinton does need to take it seriously, some experts said.
Critics point to a 2012 concussion Clinton suffered after fainting and striking her head. Or rather it will force Clinton to have a conversation about her health in the race.
The incident at the 9/11 ceremony in NY, however, whether a fainting spell or a case of being “overheated and dehydrated” as her physician stated, only elevated concerns that Mrs. Clinton is hiding something about her health.
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Polls, however, show that Clinton’s lead has dramatically narrowed in recent weeks, amid unflattering coverage of the controversy over her email server and the Clinton Foundation.
