The good news, in the view of this expert, is that patients suffering from Basedow's disease do not
have to be placed into a mental institution. Their symptoms can be managed, although they willcontinue to have their ups and downs. But such management requires a stress-free environment. The (^)
implications for Bush's further tenure in the White House are obvious enough: the Federal
Aeronautics Administration will not grant a pilot's license of any kind to a person who has been
diagnosed with Basedow's disease.
The Baltimore specialist also pointed out that although samples of Bush's blood, taken by his White
House doctors and frozen over a period of months and years, might be tested for thyroid hormone in
order to answer the all-important question of when Bush's case of Basedow's disease actually began,
these findings might be fragmentary because of the significant day-to-day variations in the level of
thyroid hormone. If a sample had been taken after Bush heard the news that Iraqi Foreign MinisterTariq Aziz had declined to accept Bush's threatening letter handed to him by Secretary of State
Baker, Bush's level of thyroid hormone that day might have been high enough to warrant immediate
hospitalization.
In the opinion of this expert, these points all represent standard, well-known medical doctrine whichis not subject to any controversy among physicians and specialists. Bush's White House medical
team must therefore be keenly aware of all of them.
According to a California professor of radiology, hyperthyroidism is traditionally associated with
patients who are irritable, restless, overactive, and emotionally labile. They often lack the ability toconcentrate, and have symptoms of anxiety. They also exhibit impulsive behavior. In addition, there (^)
are outright psychiatric disorders which are associated with hyperthyroidism. This professor pointed
to Bush's decision to initiate hostilities against Iraq, in which he rejected the advice of eight out of
nine secretaries of defense, three former chairmen of the joint chiefs of staff, and other prominent
experts in order to wage war. Could this kind of dehyperthyroidism? In this specialist's opinion it is difficult to say, because of the difficulty ofcision-making process be associated with Bush's
determining with precision when Bush's hyperthyroid condition began. Bush's choice of Dan
Quayle as a running mate might also fit into this type of pattern.
This California professor noted that there exists a literature on hypedeveloped schizophrenia. Sixty per cent of patients with hyperthyroidism show intellectualrthyroid patients who have
impairment of some degree. What will Bush be like if and when he becomes euthyroid? The
California professor regarded this as a fascinating question to follow.
According to a Venezuelan endocrinologist, hyperthyroidism must be regarded as a psycho-somaticillness characterized by obsessive states. When the patient is unable to consummate his or her
obsession, then cardiac arrhythmia results. When this happens, the condition of the patient
deteriorates. This mechanism strongly suggests that such thyroid patients be disqualified for posts
that involve stress and weighty responsibilities. According to this expert, it would be difficult for
Bush to remain in office until January, 1993, aterm. This specialist has a background of research in the psychological causes of thyroid disorders;nd it would be madness for him to attempt a second (^)
one form of the etiology of hyperthyroidism he has studied involves the tendency of young children
whose parents have died to develop thyroid problems as a result of grief and bereavement.
The question of the influence of Bush's hyperthyroid condition on hihis rageful and obsessive decisions to go to war in Panama and the Gulf, could not be avoided evens decison-making, especially (^)
by the pro-regime press. A New York Times article by Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, MD, posed the
question, "does an overactive thyroid gland affect mood and judgment?" According to this piece,
experts interviewed admitted that they had "wondered about a theoretical link between [Bush's]
Graves' disease and his presidential decisions. Most experts believe that people with