It's probably serious condition now.

Candy, yes, power was transferred when Reagan was shot. Sort of. Al Haig famously declared that "everything was under control" and implied that he was assuming executive authority. Of course, Constitutionally, VP Bush was the de facto President until Reagan recovered.

There are multiple reasons why the public deserves transparency and HIPPA should not apply. At least eight Presidents outright lied to the country about their often serious medical conditions--FDR and JFK being prominent recent examples. If you want some interesting info on the concealed crisis that resulted in the five-month-long Edith Wilson presidency:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/woodrow-wilson-stroke

The thing is, "inability to discharge the duties and responsibilities of his office," as stated in Article II of the Constitution, is determined by...whom? If a disabled President orders his staff to conceal the gravity of his illness, or directs a "doctor" (as opposed to a doctor) to certify that he is in fine fettle, then who's going to say otherwise and invoke the Constitutional clause? Woodrow Wilson didn't want that to happen in 1919. I can see an obvious parallel in 2020.

That's why I think HIPPA should not apply. The President's health--even that of an insane, evil, incompetent jerkwad like Trump--is too important to be concealed from the public, even if he wants it to be. Projecting a false image of everything-is-just-swell is in fact highly dangerous for the country.

Well, Kevin, try that argument with the Fed.  An MD (or nurse, medical records, attorneys, etc.) could be up for a $50,000 fine and prison term if he violates HIPPA.  Trust me, we had beaucoups of training on it.

History which you probably know:  HIPPA resulted from a movement to stop landlords from 1) getting medical information on potential tennants (probably had buddies working in hospitals) and 2) rejecting them as renters if the record showed treatment for HIV, alcohol abuse, and drug abuse, on the premise that such persons would not be dependable, e.g. pay on time.  Not to mention the stigma of being HIV positive back in the day.   But all medical information fell under HIPPA. 

For those specific conditions, also sickle cell anemia, there were special consent forms the patient must sign to allow that information to be transmitted to other health care providers, If that patient agrees, along with everything else in his electronic medical record (EMR).  Why sickle cell anemia?  Some organization heard about HIPPA being drafted, they wanted it included because sickle cell is primarily a disease in African Americans.  They feared it would stigmatize the patient to be communicated, unless it was necessary for treatment specifically for sickle cell.  Seemed strange to me, but whatever. 

So if I were to fax or mail or "utter" some medical info to a dialysis clinic the patient was going to, I had to be sure any of those conditions were either 1) omitted or redacted or whatever, or 2) the patient signed consent to it being included in the information.  Were it found that I or anyone communicated this and/or any medical information for any non-medical treatment purpose I could be subject to severe disciplinary action at a minimum, and/or the big fine and/or time in stir.  No thanks.  I actually had a friend ask me to look in his brother's EMR to see if the brother was being truthful in telling my friend he was "dying of cancer", which my friend doubted.  Uh, sorry, no can do. 

Another HIPPA no no was looking into the EMR of a patient if I had no need for the information, as in looking to see what's up with my neighbor who was admitted to the psych ward.  My supervisor actually was disciplined because she accessed the EMR of her father who got his care at our VA.  How did they know?  Did somebody know she did it and ratted her out?  Well, they had the same last name, and I'm sure there were folks in the med rec dept. whose job it was to ferret out that kind of thing.   

Another thing, we couldn't even access our own medical (for me it would be employee health records) without a special consent procedure.  I had a nursing assistant, a veteran who also received his care at our VA.  When they changed from paper appointment reminders to EMR he kept missing his appointments because he didn't have enough smarts to read his email reminders.  He asked his wife, who worked in another department to look up his appointments in the EMR.  Somebody who didn't like her saw her do it and ratted her out.  It came down to them both getting disciplined.  Imagine that, can't even look up your own information.  But that's HIPPA.

A local TV news anchor was raped and bludgeoned in her home.  Made it to hospital (not ours) and to OR but died of massive head injuries.  She was young and lovely, it was big news.  A doctor not connected to her case looked in her medical record out of curiosity, also a couple of nurses did.  Busted.  The nurses were fired.  The doctor had to go before the medical board, was fined and his license suspended for some months.  HIPPA.  Again, he had no need for the information, the gal was not under his care.  

It can be brutal, and doctors are well aware.   Especially when a high profile person is the patient.

Oh, geez, the "part time" trap.  Hope your boss appreciates you for holding down the fort.

A friend of mine decided to go "part time" despite reduced pay.  Turned out her assignments weren't reduced, just expected to be done in part time hours.  She found herself working almost full time for part time pay.  

Hope the granddaughter recovers OK.  It is a mess here in the school systems.  They can't decide whether to have in-classroom, 'distance learning', part days in-part out, some don't have the connectivity, working on that.  Teachers getting tested every day.  A lot of teachers suddenly retired or quit due to the worry of getting the virus.  Parents worried about their kids getting the virus.  Big mess.

I suspect Trump is done.  Fine with me.  I wanted another stimulus!

In my school district, we've reduced classrooms to 50% capacity. So naturally, the kids can only be instructed "live" 2-3 times a week. All of us teachers are working in-classroom two days a week, and online instruction two days a week. Friday is somehow reserved for "catch-up" where practically everyone is effectively a substitute, as we scramble to fill in gaps left when teachers and/or students can't attend classes for one reason or another.

It's friggin' chaos. I went to teach "live" Monday and Friday, then Tuesday and Wednesday, then not at all as a kid's mom tested positive (meaning the kid's entire class had to stay home), etc. etc. The only saving grace is that we extended the online class hours until 4 pm, so we can get caught up that way when things fall behind.

Is it working? Sort of. I personally am working about 50% harder than I have in the past. I would estimate--probably optimistically--that we're getting four weeks' worth of actual teaching in for every five elapsed weeks. Most of the kids are more comfortable with computers than we are, and they all have home computers and internet access.

Also, all of us get punted from one grade level to another as we have to constantly scramble to plug holes in the dike. The other day, I taught online, a first grade and a sixth grade class. Neither of them were "my" students. The two teachers were out sick--not covid, just plain old sick.

And on top of it all, we've had to cope with all the wildfire smoke and can't even open the goddamn windows because of it. Everybody's going a little nuts, the kiddos included. But, at least we're lurching along.

Kevin is so busy at make believe school that he has time to make multiple posts during the school day. 

Note his post times are after 9am & Oregon schools open at 8:30. 

I have online classes. There are breaks as long as an hour between them. They do not take up the entire day at all. They start at different times. I am working irregular hours.

Tom, you aren't capable of understanding anything complex. You should quit this obsession of yours over my teaching. You're starting to sound like a real sicko.

What do YOU do for a living, Tom? Tell me, so I can call you a liar about that.