Should candidates disclose their health histories?

Federal law should require all presidential candidates to disclose the complete medical histories maintains Stephen G. Bloom, professor of journalism, University of Iowa. "Voters today know more about what's in a candidate's account than what's in the candidate's medicine chest. The person who run for, and holds, the highest office in the land is not required to make public anything about his or her health. Voters have a vested interest in knowing that information, and candidates must be required to disclose such facts in the public interest." Bloom argues that voters should have knowledge of candidates' physical condition, including all prescription medications they take. Disclosure generally reveals effective medical management and can translate into increased public awareness. Such widespread information ultimately can prolong and save lives. "Public awareness begets medical awareness. Concealing health conditions by our leaders serves to mystify the medical process and cloaks potential lif-enhancing and life-saving measures the public should know about." Examples of how the public's well-being can be served better by revealing medical records of public figures include:

* Bob Dole's diclosure of his prostate cancer when he was a senator in 1994 helped pull the disease out of the closet of taboos and prompted thousands of men to get PSA (prostate-specific-antigen) blood tests.

* Pres. Ronald Reagan's disclosures of hearing loss, colon cancer, basal cell skin cancer, prostate enlargement, and, later, Alzheimer's disease signified an inevitable public awareness that news of disease, when it affects public officials, is essential to health consumers and to voters.

* First Lady Betty Ford's 1974 disclosure of her breast cancer had a similar salutary effect. "Ford's frank discussion about her cancer and where it was located . . . was a double whammy of off-limits disclosure. Diagnosis of breast cancer throughout the United States immediately increased. Tens of thousands of women were encouraged...