Davidkc reports that Bill Clinton has, once again, stepped in it.
We have seen multiple examples during the past year and a half, of Big Dog seeming to be "off message", "angry", and occasionally deliberately "misstating" some fact or event to the imagined benefit of his wife's candidacy.
There is another possibility.
John McDougall, MD, would seem to be the first medical person to step up. In an article which appeared on his McDougall Wellness Center web site he lays out an issue that I have raised, and which a number of other's have confirmed on this site.
We Need to Understand and Show Some Compassion
One of the savviest politicians of our generation, known for his wit, charm, and calm under extreme pressure, Bill Clinton appears out of character in the speeches and interviews televised since his bypass surgery September 6, 2004—and his mental deterioration may be accelerating. Remember, this is the president who withstood public impeachment before the entire world for his relationship with Monica Lewinski without once losing control. Now, he is easily angered by hecklers, and makes factual mistakes and racial slurs while aggressively defending his wife’s campaign for presidency. Everyone sees his mental and emotional decline, yet to date, no medical professionals have spoken out about the cause or offered help.
As the paragraph below shows, this is a genuine concern, and deeply felt anger at the failure of the profession to be honest with the public.
Not a single one—not one bypass surgeon, cardiologist or psychiatrist—has stepped forward in his defense; even though all of them are trained to recognize "post bypass surgery cognitive dysfunction." One of the best-kept secrets in medicine is the brain damage caused during bypass surgery. During my 40 years of medical practice I have never heard a doctor warn a patient before bypass surgery that an expected complication is memory loss. After surgery when the family complains of dad’s fits of anger, I have never heard a doctor admit that personality change is a common consequence of surgery. Yet these well-recognized side effects have been reported in medical journals since 1969.
Brain damage during bypass surgery is so common that hospital personnel refer to it as "pump head." The primary cause is emboli produced during surgery from clamping the aorta and from the "heart-lung machine." This machine pumps blood to keep the patient alive while the heart is stopped during the operation. Unfortunately, this pump also introduces toxic gases, fat globules, and bits of plastic debris into the bloodstream of the patient under anesthesia.
The Wellness Center is heavily invested in dietary and life-style changes to address health issues, occasionally engaging in non-mainstream curatives and proposals. There is nothing in this piece, however, which is not a part of the CW among cognitive and medical professionals
In 2001, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine reported that 5-years after bypass surgery 42% of patients showed decline in mental function of approximately 20 percent or more.2 A study published this year (2008) in the Annals of Thoracic Surgery using MRI testing just after bypass surgery found brain damage in 51% of patients.3 Three years after their time on the bypass pump, significant permanent reduction in mental capacity was identified in 31% of patients.
Here are the reference used in this article:
- Hill JD, Aguilar MJ, Baranco A, de Lanerolle P, Gerbode F. Neuropathological manifestations of cardiac surgery. Ann Thorac Surg. 1969 May;7(5):409-19.
- Newman MF, Kirchner JL, Phillips-Bute B, Gaver V, Grocott H, Jones RH, Mark DB, Reves JG, Blumenthal JA; Longitudinal assessment of neurocognitive function after coronary-artery bypass surgery. N Engl J Med. 2001 Feb 8;344(6):395-402. 9Link: http://content.nejm.org/...
- Knipp SC, Matatko N, Wilhelm H, Schlamann M, Thielmann M, Lösch C, Diener HC, Jakob H. Cognitive outcomes three years after coronary artery bypass surgery: relation to diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Ann Thorac Surg. 2008 Mar;85(3):872-9.
Perhaps it is time that we, here on DailyKOS, begin to show more tolerance for the William Jefferson Clinton who campaigns, today. He clearly is not the President we helped elect, and may not be able to either identify, or control his current mental missteps.