Does Gov. Sanford have a brain tumor?
Posted by CurrentMedicine.TV On June 30, 2009 – 12:00 pm in: Internal medicine, Neurosurgery, Policy, PsychiatryJuly 2 The Healthcare Channel
The South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford, has been exhibiting labile, compulsive, and bizarre behavior. First, he disappeared from the country to visit his mistress in Argentina without properly transferring power. Then, his subsequent public comments to the press have been inappropriate. In an audio interview with the Associated Press, he expressed embarrassing emotions of a love affair that made the Tom Cruise jumping-on-Oprah’s-couch seem sane. 
“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, it’s a love story; a forbidden, tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day,” Sanford said.
“Though we both know how impossible our distances are, all these things we know, from my professional work; all these different things, I will be able to die knowing… Can we turn the camera off for a second please? I know I had met my soul mate, even if it was in a place I could never go,” Sanford said.
“I’m quite certain that there are a handful of instances wherein I crossed lines that I shouldn’t have crossed as a married man but I never crossed the ultimate line,” Sanford said.
His former supporters in the GOP have now abandoned him and are calling for his resignation and suggesting he receive psychiatric counseling. Is he just another adulterous politician with bad judgment or does he have a brain tumor or other neurologic illness?
The frontal lobe of the brain controls impulses, appropriate speech and behavior. Patients with brain damage in these areas often have socially inappropriate behavior and lack of impulse control. Other illnesses and medications can cause this behavior as well. Governor Sanford’s behavior is so unusual, that a medical examination should be given at once. It would not be surprising to learn that he has a brain tumor or a treatable disease.
