Trump changes course on ‘Dr. Oz’ and gives a quick medical report

WASHINGTON Donald Trump reversed course Wednesday and divulged some results from his recent medical examination during a taping of “The Dr. Oz Show” after his campaign advisers insisted earlier in the day that he would not.

Trump handed Dr. Mehmet Oz, the show’s host, a one-page summary of the physical exam he took last week, CNN Money reported Wednesday. The physical was conducted by Dr. Harold Bornstein, who proclaimed in a four-paragraph letter last year that the 70-year-old Trump, if elected, would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

Trump, who would be the oldest first-term president if elected, told Oz that he wants to lose 15 pounds, CNN reported. The show is scheduled to air Thursday.

Trump told Oz that he takes statins for cholesterol and eats fast food largely because restaurant chains offer consistency during his frequent travels, Politico reported. He said he gets exercise from playing golf and works up a sweat delivering political speeches, according to Politico.

Trump provided a small window into his health after campaign officials said earlier in the day that he wasn’t going to discuss specifics of his exam on the show.

Instead, Trump and Oz, would speak generally about health and wellness, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom.”

“I think on Dr. Oz they are going to to talk about other concerns for America,” Conway said. “They are taking questions from the audience as I understand. I would imagine Dr. Oz would talk about what he talks about every day, addiction or Zika or other health concerns for people. If he is asked a question about his health or his stamina, I’m sure he’ll be happy to answer it. He’s always happy to answer.”

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks told CNN Money that sharing Trump’s physical results with Oz on air was “considered, given the timing and the platform” but the idea was “never finalized.”

A spokeswoman for Oz’s show Wednesday said “I can’t confirm or deny anything that will be on the show.”

However, both Trump and Oz touted discussing the Republican presidential candidate’s health on the show after Hillary Clinton fell ill Sunday at a 9/11 commemoration in New York. Her doctor later said she was suffering from pneumonia.

Both Clinton, who said she tried to power through her illness, and Trump have said that they will provide more information on their medical histories.

What Trump revealed in Wednesday’s taping was a far cry from what Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., offered when he ran for president in 2008.

McCain in May 2008 allowed reporters to review 1,173 pages of medical records, including handwritten notes from his doctors, including the attending physician of the U.S. Congress, along with lab results, clinical notes, pathology reports, insurance documents, doctor’s orders and anesthesia reports.

Those papers were released in addition to the 1,500 pages McCain had released the previous time he ran for president.

“We made the decision that we made in my campaign, there were obviously some circumstances that argued for it because of my injuries in Vietnam,” McCain, a former prisoner of war, told McClatchy Tuesday. “It’s a decision that they (Trump and Clinton) have to make. We went through a long process when we decided what we would do with mine. I understood it in my case because my opponents made it, obviously in their view, a very important issue. But every race is different.”

According to the print pool report of the release, the records documented several issues that McCain had faced, including cancer, dizziness that was diagnosed as vertigo; blood in the urine, which was diagnosed as caused by an enlarge prostate and bladder/kidney stones; high cholesterol; some pain in his shoulder, hand and knee joints diagnosed as degenerative arthritis; evidence of polyps in the colon, and some other minor medical ailments.

The cancer diagnosis and subsequent checkups dominated the medical records.

The doctors noted overall that McCain appeared to be very healthy, with a lot of energy. They noted that he smoked two packs of cigarettes a day for 25 years before quitting in 1980, but check x-rays and echocardiograms noted no serious heart disease. In both echocardiograms, McCain went for between 9 and 10 minutes on the treadmill.

“Senator McCain is a very pleasant, healthy-appearing man,” his doctor, John Eckstein, noted several times.

This story was originally published September 14, 2016 at 9:51 AM with the headline "Trump changes course on ‘Dr. Oz’ and gives a quick medical report."