Dr. Robert Klitzman, psychiatrist and director of the graduate program in Bioethics, wrote an opinion piece that appeared in The New York Times about the dangers of diagnosing the U.S. Presidential candidates.
He recalled a recent incident in which a reporter asked him about his medical opinion on Donald Trump:
"To the journalist who contacted me, I thus explained the Goldwater Rule [in which over 1,000 psychiatrists declared Barry Goldwater ‘psychologically unfit to be president’], and that I had not examined Mr. Trump, so could not say anything specific about him, but that, in general, egoism unfortunately motivates many presidential candidates. I said I hoped that would not impede them from acting in the public’s best interests — but that it was a danger.
The writer published my comments. Glenn Beck, the conservative commentator, then asked me to speak on his radio show about Mr. Trump. I declined."
Learn more about the Bioethics graduate program.
