Voters deserve to know what risk they're taking on Bernie Sanders's health

Last September, just before his heart attack, Sanders promised to provide a full accounting of his medical records before the Iowa caucuses. “I think it's the right thing to do,” Sanders said. “The American people have the right to know whether the person they're going to be voting for for president is healthy, and we will certainly release our medical records before the primaries. It will certainly be before the first votes are cast.”

Then, in October, Sanders had a heart attack and waited three days to disclose it. Though he has released three letters from doctors, he has still not provided detailed health records.

So not only is Sanders pushing 80, and not only did he just have a heart attack, but he hasn’t even bothered to follow his doctor's recommendations about lifestyle changes because his schedule is too busy. Here's a question: If he is elected president, do you suppose Sanders will be less busy than he is now?

Sanders’s two justifications for his secrecy don’t hold much water. It doesn’t matter what other medical details other candidates have disclosed because those other candidates are not 80-year-old men who recently suffered heart attacks. His argument that doing campaign events prepares him for the presidency is also dubious. Even if Sanders were in acceptable shape now, the bigger question is whether he can maintain that shape until he’s 83, which is how old he’d be at the end of his first term, especially given the stress, international travel, and mental and physical toll that presidents must endure.