Obama’s health ‘excellent,’ physician says

Although he hasn’t had a physical in 16 months, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has been “in excellent health” and is medically fit to serve as president, his longtime doctor wrote in a letter released by the campaign Thursday.

The one-page medical overview came with no supporting documentation. Still, campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki, said: “With no surgery or hospital stays, this is a complete summary of his doctor visits and medical records for the past two decades.”

The letter, written by Dr. David L. Scheiner of Chicago, noted that Obama, 46, has a family history of cancer – his mother died of ovarian cancer and a grandfather of prostate cancer. A prostate-specific antigen test – generally recommended annually for men over age 45 who are black or otherwise at high risk of prostate cancer, and often suggested for other men over age 50 – detected no issues for Obama. The campaign did not say when he is expected to be screened again.

The Illinois senator has smoked intermittently over the years, Scheiner also wrote in the overview, but is now “using Nicorette gum with success.”

“His build was lean and muscular with no excess body fat,” Scheiner said, based on Obama’s last physical, conducted Jan. 15, 2007. “His physical examination was completely normal.”

The brief Obama letter contrasted with Arizona Sen. John McCain’s decision to let a selected group of reporters spend three hours with nearly 1,200 pages of health records last week.

Those records showed that McCain, 71, the presumed Republican presidential nominee, is in good health, although he has a 15-year history of skin cancers, including a minor case in February, and has had bouts with precancerous polyps in his colon, kidney cysts and bladder stones.