From the day that Sarah Palin was tapped by John McCain as his V.P. running mate, people were requesting medical records of Sarah Palin.  They were never produced.  On November 3rd, the day before the election, Cathy Baldwin Johnson provided a letter at the express request of Sarah Palin.  By producing this letter the day before the election Palin essentially precluded further investigation or questioning of her doctor.    Here is the letter produced.

This letter essentially put Dr. Johnson in the position of determining whether Sarah Palin was “fit” to be the Vice President, instead of allowing her medical records to be produced, and independent doctors to form their own opinions. John McCain, for example, produced his medical records to be independently evaluated.  What is even more problematic with a letter, as opposed to the actual records, is that it is unclear what information is provided based upon the doctor’s actual medical testing or observations, and what information is based upon the “history” given by the patient. Thus if Sarah Palin reported to Dr. Johnson that she gave birth to Trig, a Dr. might be considered to be acting reasonably to report that information based totally upon the “HISTORY” reported by the patient.

The second thing that seems unusual about this letter is that the letter is as much about Trig as about Sarah Palin. There is no reference to the condition or status of any of her other children, their birth, delivery, or subsequent health. The names Track, Bristol, Willow, and Piper do not even appear in this letter. Supposedly Trig was born in April of 2008, and the letter was written in November, over 6 months later.   Thus it seems out of the ordinary that in a letter to describe the health of a woman running for the office of Vice President that the doctor would devote significant details in this letter to discuss the birth of a 6 month old baby. In particular, it is strange that Dr. Johnson reported:

1. This child was born at 35 weeks gestation.

2. Trig was able to go home at two days of age “with the mother.”

3. Trig had “minor problems” with jaundice that required phototherapy in the hospital and further therapy at home for several days.

It is the report of the “jaundice” that is particularly troublesome. Consider these questions:

1. If this was a minor problem, and unrelated to Sarah Palin’s health, why would Dr. Johnson even mention this “minor” problem? For example she doesn’t mention Trig’s apgar score upon the delivery which would be a sign of his condition at the time of birth. She doesn’t mention whether Trig was circumcised. She doesn’t mention whether Sarah Palin was breast feeding, which would relate to Sarah Palin’s condition. Most importantly Dr. Johnson doesn’t mention the hole in Trig’s heart which would be much more significant to his health than “minor jaundice.”

2. Multiple pictures of Trig were made available on the internet, and there was no sign of jaundice. His skin and the whites of his eyes appear to be normal. While jaundice could result in the few days after delivery, or get worse, according to Dr. Johnson, his jaundice was significant enough while in the hospital to require phototherapy.

3. Sarah Palin took Trig to the office on Monday, after his delivery on Friday, but there has never been any indication for the need to do any type of treatments for jaundice while at the office, during the period of “several days” after going home.

4. Lori Tipton was the reporter that went to the hospital the day of Trig’s reported birth where she was permitted in a room with Chuck Heath, Sally Heath, Bristol, and Trig. For about five minutes she was allowed to see Trig. She was not permitted to see Sarah Palin who was reportedly asleep in the other room. I talked with her yesterday, and she remembered the interview quite well. She confirmed that Trig’s skin color looked pink and “very normal looking.” She saw nothing to lead her to conclude that he had jaundice.

Why did Dr. Johnson mention Trig’s condition of jaundice? Why would it be important enough that Trig would need treatment in the hospital, but the pictures and observations of eye witnesses do not suggest any yellowing of his skin or eyes. In all the accounts by Sarah Palin of the labor, delivery, and birth of Trig, why was it never mentioned?

One possible explanation might be that Dr. Johnson was focused on trying to establish that Trig was newborn, and jaundice is a condition that is usually associated with a newborn. If Trig was the child of Bristol, and born at some time earlier, and treated by Bristol, then that would explain why Bristol would be in the room with Trig, why he was pink the day that Sarah supposedly gave birth, and when reporters saw him?

While the issue of jaundice might not in itself be proof that Sarah Palin did not give birth to Trig, it is just one more reason to question Sarah’s story.