Opinion

MCCAIN’S CANCER: LIES OF THE TIMES

John McCain has never had a metastatic melanoma, no matter how often The New York Times’ Larry Altman tries to insinuate that he has.

In May, I joined 19 other medical journalists (including two other MDs) to review 1,000-plus pages of McCain’s medical records. Altman, a non-practicing physician, wasn’t invited and has never seen the entire record. But representatives of many major media outlets did.

Yet the Times just ran Altman’s Page One piece asserting that the release “leaves questions, even confusion, about his cancer. . . A critical question concerns inconsistencies in medical opinions about the severity of his melanoma.” Not true.

The surgery to the left side of McCain’s face back in 2000 was extensive, removing the melanoma and reconstructing his face. But the records resolved all questions. I was able to look through the pages easily in the three hours allotted, as most records were administrative notes, with little bearing on his actual care.

The pre-surgery skin biopsies of McCain’s left temple speculated that the melanoma could have spread. But such biopsies are preliminary. The extensive and definitive, post-op reports showed clearly that it was an isolated melanoma, large but curable. All 33 lymph nodes, including the most predictive “sentinel” node, came back cancer free.

After the surgery, McCain’s oncologist, Dr.Tom Fitch, wrote in McCain’s chart that his facial surgeon and dermatologist both reported that cancer arose “within the same lesion.” For Fitch, this meant Stage IIA – a localized grade of cancer, treated by surgery alone.

I reviewed these findings with several experts at the world-renowned NYU Interdisciplinary Melanoma Program, including Dr. David Polsky, professor of dermatology, and Dr. Richard L. Shapiro, associate professor of surgery. All agreed that the surgical pathology findings were definitive, the melanoma had not spread. “He required no other treatment after surgery,” Shapiro said.

From my reading of the medical records, McCain is in excellent health. The only confusion about his melanoma is in Altman’s mind, and the only question is why a veteran journalist would resort to blind speculation. To me, he seems angry – but I’ll leave that one to political analysts and psychologists.

Dr. Marc Siegel is a Fox News medical contributor.