Yesterday the Washington Post reported on an interview with Trump covering a range of subjects, including his latest medical report from the lovably confused Dr Bornstein. This drew my attention:
“She didn’t give this. She didn’t give all of these EKGs,” Trump said, referring to an electrocardiogram test result included in the letter. “I took EKGs. She said her cholesterol is okay, I say what my cholesterol is. I give the good, the bad and the other cholesterols. I give all three cholesterols.
Trump took multiple EKGs and gave all three cholesterol figures because he’s a winner! And winners give all three! And Clinton is a loser because she didn’t “give” EKGs and only said her cholesterol is okay without saying what it “is”.
I decided to compare the two letters each doctor has written, not to discover who is the healthiest but just to see who revealed the most information in this regard and whether Trump was lying in the interview. (Hint: Yup.)
I don’t know if Trump was referring to the first or the second letter from Clinton’s doctor — the context was her recent health episode, so one would think he meant the second letter, but no matter. Just to deal with his comments, her doctor did, in fact, give the latest results for all three cholesterol readings (and triglycerides) in both letters. By contrast, Trump’s first letter made no mention at all of cholesterol. The second gave the same info as Clinton’s.
Regarding "EKGs", Clinton had a “full cardiac evaluation” and “normal EKG” in the 2015 report. Trump’s first report says "His cardiovascular status is excellent”, but lacks the specifics of Clinton’s first report (which gives coronary calcium score [zero], carotid ultrasound, heart & respiratory rates). Both those letters give blood pressure.
Regarding cardiac info in the second letters, Trump’s gives blood pressure, a 2013 calcium score (98 which indicates “mild plaque” on the arteries); a normal EKG in April and an ultrasound (echocardiogram) back in Dec 2014 “within the range of normal”. Clinton’s second letter mentions a CT scan and another zero for calcium (in relation to the diagnosis of pneumonia), along with respiratory and heart rates, blood pressure and pulse-oximetry. Trump’s specific complaint about no “EKGs” for Clinton seems unwarranted given no mention of angina and a low risk of heart disease that might indicate another EKG was necessary for Clinton.
Looking at this, even disregarding Trump’s lie/error about cholesterol scores, I fail to see how he can boast that his reports are more thorough than her reports, even just looking at the two areas he mentioned (cholesterol and cardiac). WaPo neither called Trump out on this comment or fact-checked it before publishing.