(WDCpix)

(WDCpix)

A senator asking Sonia Sotomayor about her diabetes wouldn’t be out of line, an expert on the disease says.

The judge’s grilling has mostly been about the law, but should Sotomayor’s interrogators stray into matters of her personal health, they would be justified, according to Dr. Richard M. Bergenstal, president-elect of the American Diabetes Association and director of the International Diabetes Center at Park Nicollet Hospital.

“It could be debated that it’s anyone’s business,” Bergenstal told the Minnesota Independent in an interview shortly after her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, he said, “I think it’s fair to look at someone’s health history where you’re counting on them for the long term.”

Sotomayor contracted Type I diabetes as a child. It’s the less common form of the disease, unrelated to hereditary factors or lifestyle. That’s different from Type II diabetes, which can be brought on by lifestyle and physical conditions.

“With Type I diabetes, the general numbers would say that on average, there’s some shortening on someone’s lifespan, five to seven years,” Bergenstal said.

“Half do better, half do worse. The half who do better are those who pay attention [to their health],” he said. “A person with [Sotomayor's background] is probably in that better half.”

Having diabetes might even inform Sotomayor’s performance on the bench.

“Type I diabetes is a chronic condition. It makes you face illness and death a little differently,” Bergenstal said. “It adds some discipline to your life that probably carries over to [other areas of] your life.”

Minnesota’s top state official for diabetes, Dr. Gisele Bouroncle, agrees.

“Judges interpret the laws. They’re not there to set policy or implement policy,” Bouroncle said. “But I suppose people bring perspective [to the court, such as] understanding the importance of access to health care.

“It’s such a demanding disease,” according to Bouroncle. It can be especially hard for a child, who may feel like an outcast, to deal with, she said.

Adults like Sotomayor gain an understanding of “what it is like living with a disease that has to be addressed every day of your life,” she added.

That includes, for example, careful, daily monitoring of one’s own blood sugar — as well as advocating for one’s own medical needs, sometimes in inhospitable situations.

Law enforcement is one area where greater understanding about diabetes is needed, Bouroncle said. At correctional facilities, consequences can be serious when “low blood sugar can be misinterpreted [if prisoners become] confused or combative, or lose consciousness.”

If she’s confirmed, Sotomayor “could bring a lot of visibility and attention to diabetes,” Bouroncle said.

Indeed, Bergenstal said celebrities with the disease — actors, a Jonas brother, a Miss America — “put a face to a condition.”

Even without doing anything beyond acknowledging that she has it, he said, Sotomayor helps the cause, by demonstrating that “a person dedicated to being involved in their diabetes management can have a … full life.”

As for whether Sotomayor could serve as a spokesperson, he said, “certainly we would welcome any interaction … if she’s comfortable with it.”