The health issues of candidates and their families has no place in politics

Most Americans worry about their personal and private information being made public. When Republican Senator John Cain's brain cancer diagnosis was made public through both Conservative and Democrat media outlets on Wednesday, the news not only went viral, it spread through social media like wildfire. Yet if our own medical information was made public, most of us would be incensed and start filing lawsuits against those who released the information. It was for this very reason that the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or HIPAA, a was passed in 1996.

The federal law restricts access to every individual private medical information, including that of political figures and their family.

No politician's medical history should be used against them or the party they represent

Whether we like what a political figure stands for or not, they have husband's, wives, children, and grandchildren, and other family members who love them regardless of the trappings of their party ideology. Make My Family Tree cites the Republican Senator's family history including the fact that as a U.S. Navy pilot during the Viet Nam conflict he was shot down and seriously wounded before becoming a Prisoner of War and being held in Hanoi from 1967 until 1973.

It must be heart-wrenching for John McCain's six children--most of whom are now grown-- and a child he and his second wife adopted from Bangladesh to hear and read the attacks and insults about his health being thrown about on social media and in the news.

And after putting myself in their place and asking, "What if he was my father or husband," I am not only ashamed of linking the Senator to Trump's Health Care bill, I realize the importance of separating the person from the politician during any health crisis. This is a time for political grievances to be put aside in regards to the Senator.

Presidential candidates health issues are fodder for the media and the opposition

In 2016 Trump’s campaign, Conservative groups, and Trump himself made constant accusations against Hillary Clinton's alleged health problems using photographs taken by reporters to back up the assertions. Trump went so far as to draw attention to the Democrat's age, although he is not exactly a spring chicken.

Nixon, Reagan, Bill Clinton, and other presidential candidates also had their alleged health or mental health issues used by opponents and the religious and political groups that rally around them.

(D) Michael Dukakis suffered a particularly vicious attack based on unproven rumors that he had suffered from severe depression for years. What started out as whispered rumors in 1988 became National News. Leading George W Bush at the time by a sizable margin, Dukakis's lead dropped by seventeen points in one month. STAT cited that a New York dermatologist wrote and published an analysis of John McCain's past bout with melanoma although the Senator had released 1,000 pages of medical records after winning the Republican presidential nomination in order to put to rest any lingering concerns about his health.

Health issues and addictions of family members are often exposed

Before Colin Powell even decided if he would run for president or not, The Philadelphia Inquirer and Newsweek Magazine both reported that Ms. Powel had dealt with depression for over 10 years and he was on antidepressants. From accusations of Mamie Eisenhower and Betty Ford being alcoholics to the cocaine addiction of Beau Biden many years earlier, no one is safe from the cruel and nasty workings of special interest groups and those hired to dig up dirt on political opponents with no regards for dignity or decency. It was never any secret that theater star and actress Olympia Dukakis had struggled with an addiction to alcohol and diet pills for years, yet the information was used to insinuate that she would embarrass the office of the presidency if he were elected.

If we expect politicians to respect our privacy and the privacy of our health and mental health records, then so should we as human beings set aside our political leanings and do the same.