Clinton's health

(Albany, N.Y.) Times Union

As President Clinton recovers from coronary bypass surgery, we join with millions of Americans who wish him a full and speedy return to good health. But we also wonder, along with many others, how he could have come so close to a severe, even fatal, heart attack -- as his doctors say he did -- without someone raising a warning flag long ago.

Mr. Clinton always seemed to be in good physical shape, both while in the White House and later in private life. Despite his junk-food diet and cigars, he jogged regularly, and his energy seemed inexhaustible. He exuded youthful robustness that belied his 58 years, and in recent months he appeared in better shape than ever after losing weight on the South Beach diet.

So how is it that, when Mr. Clinton checked into New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, several of his arteries were 90 percent clogged with plaque -- as doctors are now saying? Given his history of thorough medical checkups, especially during his years in the White House, why didn't someone notice the warning signs long before last week? If there is a common thread that runs through all of this, it's that of cavalier attitudes -- on the part of a patient who too often brushed aside the potential dangers of his diet and family medical history, and of doctors who should have looked more closely at those dangers as well.