First Lady Enters Bethesda Hospital for Physical Exam
Nancy Reagan entered Bethesda Naval Hospital today to undergo a routine physical examination, her press secretary, Elaine Crispen, said.
“It was not a rush or emergency thing,” Crispen added.
She said the First Lady, 64, did not have any specific medical complaint.
Mrs. Reagan had a basal cell skin cancer removed from her upper lip in 1982, and has from time to time suffered weight loss attributed by friends to stress.
The First Lady, whose adoptive father was a physician, is known to be sensitive about detailed public release of her and her husband’s medical problems--a problem that arose when the President underwent cancer surgery in July and twice later had a skin cancer removed from his nose.
In keeping with her sensitivity, the hospital visit was not announced in advance and the President’s spokesman, Larry Speakes, said he knew nothing about it until a reporter asked.
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