Published Sunday, February 3, 2002 


Doctors don't find any reason ex-attorney general can't run
BY AMY DRISCOLL AND ALFONSO CHARDY 
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Janet Reno's medical records trace the slow progression of her Parkinson's disease through typical symptoms: arm tremors, stiffness, handwriting deterioration. 

But the documents, released by her campaign last week, don't reveal any medical condition that would prevent the former U.S. attorney general from campaigning for governor and serving if she wins, doctors say. 

Two neurologists -- one in California and the other Reno's own physician at the University of Miami -- reviewed six years of her medical records for The Herald, concluding Friday there is no medical reason she cannot seek the Democratic nomination for governor. 

``I don't see anything in here, per se, that says to me, `Oh, my God, she can't do what she needs to do,' '' said Dr. Ilena Blicker, a neurologist in Glendale, Calif., who treats Parkinson's patients and heads the Los Angeles County Medical Association. 

Reno's medical records were released to The Herald by her campaign office Thursday and Friday in response to a request after Reno's well-publicized fainting spell Wednesday night during a speech in Rochester, N.Y. 

The records -- which include only those relating to Parkinson's and do not include those from the blackout in Rochester -- track Reno's health beginning in 1996, a year after she was diagnosed with the disorder of the nervous system. Parkinson's is a progressive disease that, at its worst, robs people of their ability to control their movements. 

``Parkinson's by itself doesn't mean an individual can't do things,'' Blicker said. ``They lead normal lives and have an ability to function normally. Her having Parkinson's is not an issue as to whether she has the ability to be running for a government position or holding one.'' 

Blicker said Reno's blackout was not especially troubling. 


NUMEROUS REASONS 

``People pass out for a number of reasons, even choking on a pretzel or not eating well,'' she said. 

President Bush's fainting spell two weeks ago was blamed on a pretzel. 

Reno's medical records indicate she has fainted in public twice before, the first time in Mexico City in 1997 and again in 1998, both times while she was U.S. attorney general. 

After the episode in 1998, when she passed out briefly during a church service in Maryland, she wore a heart monitor for 24 hours. The monitor did not detect any irregular heart rhythms, the medical records show. 

Although the reports say Reno had no fainting episodes before 1997, a 1983 article in The Herald noted that Reno fainted once in public when she was Miami-Dade state attorney. 

According to the article, Reno was overcome by heat exhaustion at a police memorial service at Tropical Park in 1983. 

The state attorney, then 44, was carried backstage and administered smelling salts. 

``I just felt lightheaded,'' Reno said at the time. ``I don't know what happened.'' 


SAYS IT WAS FLU 

Reached on the campaign trail Saturday, Reno said she doesn't consider the 1983 episode a fainting spell. 

``I had the flu and had thrown up all the night before,'' she said. ``I thought I was over it, but I wasn't. I remember collapsing, but I don't think I actually fainted.'' 

She said she can recall no other fainting episodes in her life. 

Despite the blackouts, the records indicate Reno has remained relatively healthy, with the Parkinson's disease progressing at a slow rate. The dosages of her medicines -- she takes Sinemet and Mirapex to control symptoms that consist mostly of tremors in her arms and hands -- have remained fairly low, doctors said. 

The Mirapex caused some drowsiness initially, the reports said, but the symptoms later disappeared with adjustment of the dosage. 

Reno's major complaints seemed to center on an increasing inability to write clearly -- she eventually shifted to typing on a computer instead -- and the noticeable shaking of her arms in public. 


CLASSIC SYMPTOMS 

The doctors who treated her over the years from 1996 to 2001 noted stiffness at times, decreased finger dexterity and ``micrographia,'' a condition typical of Parkinson's patients in which the handwriting gets progressively smaller. 

``By paragraph two, the print gets smaller, the letters get smaller. It becomes harder to write,'' said University of Miami neurologist William Koller, who has treated Reno since she returned to Miami from Washington. ``It's a classic abnormality.'' 

The reports are sprinkled with evidence that Reno continued an active lifestyle despite the disease. There are references to mountain climbing, biking in the Everglades and swimming in the ocean. 

``She reports that she was on a 15-mile bike ride this morning . . . and she did quite well, although she points out she was a bit slower than some of the other people,'' neurologist William Weiner noted in December 1997. 


FAVORABLE REPORT 

By December 2001, shortly after Reno announced she would run for governor, Koller wrote a glowing report: ``The patient is totally functional and has no difficulty with any of her activities and keeps up with apparently a very demanding schedule.'' 

Koller said Friday that although he has not seen Reno as a patient since her collapse in New York, he believes the fainting is no cause for alarm. 

``Some people may be more susceptible to fainting, because of dehydration or lack of sleep, for example. I'm sure she pushes herself a lot, with her work schedule,'' he said. 

He said Parkinson's disease does not make a person more prone to fainting, although it's possible her medications could slightly lower her blood pressure and increase the chances of fainting.

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