The private health of public figures worldwide
UNTIL 2008 it was an “open secret” among Britain’s political elite that former prime minister Margaret Thatcher had suffered from dementia for at least eight years. Her medical records were kept confidential. Her condition was only revealed in a book by her daughter, who described how she often forgot that her husband was dead.
Former US president Jimmy Carter managed in 1978 to keep secret the sensitive subject of his haemorrhoid surgery, only for Egypt’s thenpresident, Anwar Sadat, to publicly call for prayers for his recovery from the condition.
Foundations representing former US presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford have regularly provided detailed disclosures on their medical treatment. Ford’s spokesman released information on cardiac stents and the treatment for two minor strokes and pneumonia.
Former French president François Mitterrand declared his severe prostate cancer to be a “state secret” in the ’80s, according to a book by his physician, Claude Gubler. Mitterrand was treated in secret and every needle and vial used was destroyed. This came less than a decade after former president Georges Pompidou died of cancer while in office after repeatedly denying any medical condition “more
serious than a cold”.
Britain’s Sun newspaper revealed in 2006 that the baby son of thenprime minister Gordon Brown suffered from cystic fibrosis, sparking a probe into leaked medical records.
Winston Churchill’s private physician, Lord Moran, published intimate details of the British prime minister’s medical conditions in 1966, including his battle with the “black dog” of depression. After initial outrage about a breach of confidentiality, historians have since praised the revelation as key to understanding Churchill, who had died in 1965.
Sonia Gandhi, a major political figure in India, vanished from public sight for weeks in 2011 to have surgery for an undisclosed condition. Public dismay at the media blackout was summed up in an editorial by the Business Standard newspaper: “In a democracy, the people have a right to know detailed information about the health of their leaders.”
In the US, presidents in office who concealed major medical conditions include Grover Cleveland, who had bone cancer, Calvin Coolidge, who suffered clinical depression, and Ronald Reagan, whose progressive Alzheimer’s condition only came to light years after leaving office. — Rowan Philp