Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine were in Harrisburg this past Friday campaigning together.  Now we learn from Hillary’s doctor, Lisa Bardack, MD, that Hillary was diagnosed on Friday with pneumonia. 

This delayed announcement came on Sunday only after TV and web viewers watched the astonishing scene of Hillary swaying, staggering with legs akimbo, then falling into her waiting van. On CNN Sunday mid-afternoon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta barely held onto his job by swallowing his conscience, only to be squelched by Poppy Harlow, preventing him going out too far on the limb.

Thinking out loud, Dr. Gupta puzzled, as any competent physician would do, as to exactly how and when Hillary’s diagnosis took place.  He pointed out that a pneumonia diagnosis protocol involves blood tests, a physical exam at a clinic or hospital and a chest X-ray. Of course neither Poppy or Dr. Gupta could bring themselves to tie the actual knot of logical investigation. The devil on Sanjay’s other shoulder was no doubt reminding him of how Dr. Drew Pinsky abruptly lost his job by commenting too comprehensively on Hillary’s health.

On such a busy day as Hillary put in on Friday September 9th, when and where exactly, and by whom, was her pneumonia diagnosed?  It’s Sunday evening as I write this and no reports thus far have probed the veracity of the “diagnosis” or for that matter its existence. Joe Pesci’s “Vinny” Gambini, of My Cousin Vinny, could certainly have connected those dots and provided a more satisfactory interrogation.

Is doctor-patient privilege so powerful that media sleuths can’t at least work up a time line of her schedule to see if sufficient time and space allowed a “diagnosis” to be possible? 

Loren can be reached for comment at loren@twopare.com