The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View - Softcover

Bumgarner M.D., John R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786420677 ISBN 13: 9780786420674

Publisher: McFarland, 2004

Synopsis

Surrounded by well-meaning aides, physicians sworn to confidentiality, and in some cases, sycophants, the president of the United States usually keeps the state of his health well-guarded from the American public. Though the intention of the 25th Amendment is to provide for the removal of an impaired president, the level of discretion involved in such a decision has caused many to question whether it serves the national interest. In large part, the men who have served as president have been past middle age and susceptible to the dame maladies as the rest of the aged population. The complete medical history of each of the first 41 U.S. presidents, emphasizing illnesses that affected them during their administrations, is here set out for the lay reader by a physician. The presidents' health care regimens (diet, exercise, home remedies, etc.) and physicians' treatments are also discussed.

About this title

About the Author:

The late John R. Bumgarner, M.D., was also the author of Sarah Childress Polk (1997) and Parade of the Dead (1995). He lived in Greensboro, North Carolina.

From Library Journal:

Within the last two years there have been several excellent investigations of the medical health of presidents, but this is the first one to provide a chronologically arranged review of the health of all chief executives throughout their lives. Although it lacks the depth and analysis of Robert Gilbert's The Mortal Presidency: Illness and Anguish in the White House (LJ 11/15/92) or Robert Ferrell's Ill-Advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust (LJ 9/15/92), the convenience of its five-to ten-page summaries in one source makes it worthy of consideration. The readable case studies are enlivened by the author's medical opinions, which stress that until the 1930s medical treatment was primitive. It is amazing that more presidents did not die from cures that included purging, bleeding, and unsanitary, groping surgery than the actual illness. To his credit, Bumgarner does not offer psychological profiles of the contemporary presidents, though the book would have been strengthened by a conclusion summarizing the evolution of presidential medical care. Recommended for public library circulating collections or as a reference complementing the Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (LJ 1/94).
Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: McFarland
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0786420677
• ISBN 13: 9780786420674
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344