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Clinton cancels California trip after pneumonia diagnosis

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has cancelled a campaign trip to California after being diagnosed with pneumonia.

Mrs Clinton was taken ill on Sunday at a 9/11 memorial ceremony and was seen stumbling as she left the event early.

Her doctor said she was now re-hydrated and "recovering nicely".

Her Republican rival Donald Trump wished her a speedy recovery and promised to release details on his own health later this week.

Mrs Clinton was due to leave for California on Monday morning for a two-day trip that included fundraisers, a speech on the economy, and an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Her personal physician, Dr Lisa Bardack, said: "Secretary Clinton has been experiencing a cough related to allergies. On Friday, during follow-up evaluation of her prolonged cough, she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She was put on antibiotics, and advised to rest and modify her schedule."

The candidate's team initially said on Sunday she was "overheated", later revealing she had been diagnosed on Friday with pneumonia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2016-37336164

Recently, I have noticed sudden inappropriate outbursts of laughter and strange almost jerky head movements

Could Clinton be suffering form the early stages of a neurological disease such as Parkinsons?

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Hillary Clinton’s health adds new twist to presidential race

The 2016 US presidential election continues to surprise and confuse. The latest twist has revealed that, after months of dismissing rumours about her health as conspiracy theories, we learn that Hillary Clinton has pneumonia. She had to leave a September 11 memorial event on Sunday, not entirely under her own steam, and has cancelled a two-day campaign swing through California.

There can be no doubt that this is bad news for Mrs Clinton’s campaign. It is not just that she has taken ill and will miss an unknown number of days of campaigning. It is also that her health problems and her campaign’s apparent efforts to hide them fall into two pre-existing narratives. Mr Trump and his surrogates have for months been seeding the media ground with the twin notions that Mrs Clinton is both frail and deceptive.

Developments that bolster longstanding narratives tend to be particularly bad for a candidate’s standing. Mitt Romney’s gaffe, during the 2012 election, that 47 per cent of the population were freeloading on the government was so damaging because it reinforced the idea that he was an unsympathetic plutocrat. Al Gore’s supposed quip that he invented the internet proved hard to shake because it highlighted the view of him as someone who inflated his own image at the expense of pesky facts.

So we can comfortably predict that questions about Mrs Clinton’s integrity and fortitude will dominate the news coverage in the next few days.

Cutting through all of the “narratives”, how much should Mrs Clinton’s health problems really matter? It is a serious subject of concern, of course. Presidential candidates have in the past often misled the public in this area. For years, most Americans had no idea that Franklin Roosevelt was confined to a wheelchair. They never knew that John F Kennedy took large amounts of pain medication and stimulants for a variety of conditions. But, even with all the medical information in the world, voters always elect a president under a cloud of uncertainty about their health. That is inherent in the human condition.

It is particularly true this year. One of the many ironies of the 2016 campaign is that, in a youth-obsessed culture, the American people saw fit to nominate two candidates who are very old by recent standards. Mrs Clinton is 68; Mr Trump, at 70, would be the oldest person ever to begin a presidency. The miracles of modern medicine mean that, according to the actuarial tables, Mrs Clinton will live to be 87 and Mr Trump will make it to 85. But those are only averages and things do still go wrong for people of their age — sometimes quite suddenly. This is why America has a well-defined succession and a proper vetting of the vice-president.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/de7d41f0-78d4 ... edition=uk

What happens if Hillary drops out? We explain the possible scenarios that could unfold if the Democratic candidate decides not to run

Democratic Party bylaws say a special, emergency meeting would be held
They would hold a vote with members to decide the next person on ticket
New candidate would be chosen by simple majority, but details are unclear
Her running mate Tim Kaine, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden could all be considered to take her place
There is also precedent for a family member to step into the race
However the 22nd Amendment stops husband Bill from doing so
If Hillary did drop out, she would be the first candidate in history to do so

Hillary Clinton's doctor confirmed on Sunday night the presidential candidate has pneumonia.

She made the shocking announcement after video surfaced of the 68-year-old collapsing after abruptly leaving the 9/11 memorial service in New York.

The revelation didn't just bring her health into question, but also added the possibility she may have to drop from the race. She has put her campaign on hold and is resting in her Chappaqua, New York, home.

But if her condition deteriorates significantly, the Democratic Party may be forced to consider their options.

No presidential candidate of a major party has ever died or withdrawn before a presidential election.

Despite that, here is what could happen if Clinton drops out of the race for the White House:

Democratic National Committee bylaws would come into play

It is very rare for a candidate to drop out before the ballot in November, but the DNC have still factored it into their guidelines.

They state that, if Clinton was to drop out, it would have to be completely her choice.

If she confirmed she was stepping aside, senior party officials would hold an emergency meeting.

A vote would then be organized among members, with the new name on the ticket having to be elected by a simple majority.

But it is not clear when or how that would take place.

It is likely the Democrats would do improvise slightly in order to choose another candidate.

There would be no special preference given to any candidates who have already been involved in the process.

The Democratic National Committee Bylaws read: 'The foregoing notwithstanding, a special meeting to fill a vacancy on the National ticket shall be held on the call of the Chairperson, who shall set the date for such meeting.'

Then there would be a vote among members to fill the position on the national ticket. The winner would require a simple majority.

However, all of the members who vote would have to be present when they handed over their ballot slips

If one of the Republican candidates died, their party would reconvene the convention.

Could Congress push Election Day back?

Congress sets the date for the General Election. This year it is on November 8, or the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

They can vote to change the date to extend the time the Democrats have to decide on a candidate - or for Hillary to recover- but it's extremely unlikely.

Voting laws - such as changing elections to weekends - have stalled in Congress frequently. States would also have to pass any regulations and would have to extend their voting regulations.

There is also a strong Republican presence in Congress, and they may not want to pass a measure that gives the Democrats a chance of winning.

Tim Kaine for President?

As the United States Senator from Virginia already has a large donor base, there is a strong chance he would move up the ticket.

He may then pick up running mate himself and carry on campaigning.

However, members of the party would have to cast their vote to get him into that position.

Kaine has no special consideration even though he is on the ticket. If someone else is voted in, Kaine could still be the running mate

As running mate Tim Kaine already has a large donor base, there is a strong chance he would move up the ticket. However he has no special consideration over potential rivals

What about Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders?

Bernie Sanders was Clinton's most viable and strongest opponent during the campaign, while Joe Biden has always been a favorite of the Democratic hopefuls.

Arguably, as two of the more recognized Democrats, they could drum up more support during the general election.

However, they would still have to be picked by members.

Biden has previously stated he didn't want to run. Bernie lost out to Clinton in the primary process, but still has a large support base among members.

Could it be Chelsea?

There is a tradition of spouses taking the place of their candidate, but that has typically been when they have died.

For example, Jean Carnahan stood in for her husband Mel after he died in a plane crash three weeks before the Missouri Senate election in 2001. She won, and served for two years in his place.

Future Senator Olympia Snowe first entered politics after the death of her husband, a Maine state representative, in a car wreck.

Former U.S. Representative for California Mary Bono’s long political career began when her husband Sonny died in a skiing incident.

She was first elected to Congress just weeks after her husband died.

But Hillary's husband Bill is prevented from running because of The 22nd Amendment - stating no President can be elected to more than two terms.

Therefore, Chelsea could take her place. There is a concern that she has never held elected office and hasn't made it clear she wants a career in politics.

Who has faced similar questions before?

Many high-profile candidates have been put under the same scrutiny, but they haven't dropped out.

Rumors about Franklin D Roosevelt’s health dogged his final presidential campaign in 1944.

He carried on regardless, as his aides kept his heart disease a secret. It would kill him in 1945, just a year into his fourth term, prompting Vice President Harry Truman to be sworn in as president.

Republicans Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and Senator John McCain have all faced questions about their health as Republican presidential nominees.

McCain allowed reporters to see 1,173 pages of medical records after concerns were raised about a cancer scare.

He failed in his bid to become president, losing to Barack Obama in 2008.

Does it depend how quickly she recovers from pneumonia?

Pneumonia is commonly treated quickly and effectively with antibiotics.

Doctors suggest it takes around a week to get over the worst of the symptoms.

If she was considering stepping aside from the campaign, she would have to choose at least a month before.

This would allow the DNC to go through with the voting process.

Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, said patients with a mild pneumonia can recover with antibiotics, a few days of rest and good hydration.

That's especially true of someone who does strenuous work, such as a rigorous campaign schedule.

But Clinton does need to take it seriously, some experts said.

People over age 65 have a harder time returning to normal than do younger patients.

Many people her age need a week or more to recover from even a mild case of pneumonia, said Dr Sharon Bergquist, an Emory University assistant professor of medicine who specializes in internal medicine.

'The body needs rest. The more she pushes, the harder it is for her to recover,' she said.

HILLARY CLINTON'S HEALTH HISTORY

RECENT HEALTH ISSUES

Clinton had a coughing fit while campaigning in Cleveland early last week.

It was dismissed by her aides as allergies and by Clinton herself at that moment as stemming from 'talking so much.'

It's possible Clinton may have assumed that symptoms from an earlier viral infection were due to allergies, Schaffner said.

Clinton takes antihistamines, which can 'dry you out,' and dehydration leads to a person being susceptible to heat exhaustion, Bergquist said.

Add in the possibility of fever, shortness of breath or other possible symptoms from pneumonia, and you have a constellation of factors that could have explained her feeling weak on Sunday, she said.

CLINTON'S MEDICAL HISTORY

Last year, Clinton's campaign released a letter from Bardack attesting to the former secretary of state's good health.

The most notable events in Clinton's medical record included deep vein thrombosis - or a blood clot, usually in the leg - in 1998 and 2009, a broken elbow in 2009 and a concussion in 2012.

Clinton got a stomach virus while traveling in 2012 that left her so dehyrdated that she fainted.

She had a concussion that fall, and doctors treating her found a blood clot in a vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind her right ear.

Clinton spent a few days in New York-Presbyterian Hospital for treatment and took a monthlong absence from her role as secretary of state.

Bardack said testing the following year showed 'complete resolution' of the concussion's effects, including double vision, for which Clinton wore glasses with specialized lenses to address.

Other details from Bardack's letter included:

- Clinton's blood pressure was 100 over 65

- Her total cholesterol was 195; her LDL or 'bad' cholesterol was 118, and her HDL or 'good' cholesterol was 64 - all within healthy levels and not signaling the need for any medications

- She had full cardiac testing, including an ultrasound exam of arteries in her neck, and all was well

- Clinton has been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, a common condition in women older than 60, in which the thyroid gland doesn't produce enough of certain important hormones

- Clinton's current medications include Armour Thyroid, a thyroid hormone replacement, and antihistamines, vitamin B12 and a blood thinner named Coumadin