2,000 Doctors Call on McCain to Release His Medical Records

Editor's note: The following is a press release from our friends at Brave New Films:

2,000 Doctors Call on McCain to Release his Medical Records

LOS ANGELES -- Over 2,000 MDs and other degreed medical professionals have signed an open letter calling for a "full, public disclosure" of John McCain's medical records. Brave New Films will release the complete list of names to reporters this Thursday. The text of the letter is viewable here.

The state of McCain's health has become an increasingly important issue in the general election. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos last Sunday, Senator Claire McCaskill pointed to McCain's advanced age and history of melanoma as "a reality here that we have to face." Responding to a question about McCain's cancer, Senator Harry Reid told blogger Matt Stoller last month, "Health issues are extremely important. . .There should be total transparency when a person is running for President of the United States." Senator Chuck Schumer told Stoller, "When you're running for president, everything should be public including your full medical records." Video of the remarks by Schumer and Reid is available here.

In May, the McCain campaign allowed a small group of reporters to review over 1,000 pages of McCain's medical records from 2000 to 2008 in just three hours and under strict prohibitions. In an interview with the Columbia Journalism Review, Lawrence Altman, M.D., medical correspondent for The New York Times, described the event as such: ". . .to have a slew of reporters and give each individual reporter three hours to go through what was said to be approximately a thousand pages - that's 333 pages per hour, and I don't think speed readers can read that much that fast. . .[the time limit] doesn't allow anyone, in my mind, to make a thorough analysis and recording, which is what you'd want."