I write often about the issue of whether to disclose health issues, when to disclose, how to disclose, what to disclose, why to disclose, etc. It’s obviously an issue very personal to me, given the anonymous nature of my blog. I choose not to disclose at this stage of my health situation. That’s what I’ve decided is best for me, given the uncertainty around my particular situation, and the need for avoidance of the unavoidable questions that will follow. 

But that’s me.

I suppose if I was running for the highest office in the land, to become the leader of the free world, to assume responsibility of being President of the United States…that maybe my approach would be different. Maybe. Or maybe not.

A lot is being written and said about Hillary Clinton’s “health situation”. I mean, just Google the words “Hillary” and “health”, and see what comes up. It’s scary. Lots of speculation out there, based on sporadic anecdotal evidence. Coughing fits. Facial tics. Stumbling. Speech problems. All in bite size form, and preserved for all time on YouTube. 

What could be just an unfortunate series of minor health issues, has been blown into orbit, with wild speculation about whether Hillary is hiding a serious illness. Like Parkinsons. Or MS. Or some other yet to be named chronic illness that has yet to be disclosed. God forbid. Because that would deem her incapable of serving as President. Or so the rhetoric goes.

The reality is that Hillary Clinton is in a bind. From my perspective, we don’t have an absolute right to know her health history or possible health situations. It’s irrelevant. Inconsequential. And completely off topic.

Nonetheless, her failure to immediately disclose her diagnosis of pneumonia sent shockwaves through the inter webs, with folks deciding that this just proves that Hillary Clinton is not trustworthy. Not honest. Not completely forthcoming. Not fit to be President. Because, as I’ve written before, the right to know carries with it the right to judge. To judge whether we deem someone’s medical situation to be sufficiently serious enough to justify their behaviors and actions.

And this whole situation caused Hillary Clinton to be even more forthcoming about other health results, including a recent mammogram result. Because we, as American people and potential voters, have a right to know all of these details. The intimate, gory details of her health history. I think that is the elusive #11 in the Bill of Rights. But don’t ask me about the first 10.

On the other hand, it is relevant in relation to her capacity to serve as the leader of our country. Someone with a demanding and grueling job, with the power to shape our physical, financial, and spiritual well being. So…shouldn’t we expect there to be a clean bill of health? That there are no limitations to her ability to perform?  That she won’t have “off days” like so many of us, and that she can sustain the constant pressure of the job for four long years?

I wrote some time ago about the maxim, First Do No Harm, in relation to the pilot with undisclosed health issues that crashed his commercial plane, killing himself and others. Meaning that there are obviously limitations to this idea of non-disclosure. That while disclosure may not be required, discretion by the individual is required. As in, the discretion to pass on tasks or jobs that or health dictates may be unsafe or unadvised. 

(On a side note, it seems almost impossible to believe that we’ve never had a President with cancer, Alzheimer’s, or other serious illness while in office, at least in the modern era. Almost too good to be true. But it also sets the bar pretty high for expectations for the next President.) 

Let’s be clear. This issue of the right to know isn’t limited to presidential candidates. Hackers recently publicized medical records for Simone Biles, the celebrated U.S. Olympic gymnast, revealing her personal medical history. And the news media publicly ate it up, all the while proclaiming outrage, the voyeuristic irony of it all being lost in the shuffle. We’re in this era where undisclosed medical conditions are deemed to make an individual deceitful, not forthcoming, and not trustworthy. Even if they have no bearing on a person’s abilities (or character) at all.

I truly hope Hillary Clinton has no major medical maladies, illnesses, or conditions. But I won’t think less of her if it turns out she does. And I won’t think of her as dishonest if she has failed to disclose something. Because if full disclosure of health issues is a right of passage for any job of significance, then I have a problem. WE have a problem. A problem that will eat away at our very core. Because God help us if the bar is set that high.