Oscar Munoz, CEO of Chicago-based United Airlines, underwent a heart transplant Jan. 6 after suffering a heart attack in October, according to the Chicago Tribune. The heart attack came about a month after he was named CEO of the well-known airline.
His hospitalization and surgery raise questions about the health of CEOs, many of whom are only required to take physicals after they’ve been hired, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
And even if a CEO undergoes a physical exam before he or she is hired, the results don’t always sway boards’ decisions.
“I’ve never seen anybody not hire the CEO they wanted because of the physical,” said Christine DeYoung of Chicago-based DHR International.
Other companies aren’t as demanding and “will make their best guess, based on looks or things that will come up discretely in the interview process,” according to Bruce Hochstadt, MD, senior health management consultant for Chicago-based Willis Towers Watson.
Only time will tell whether boards will begin requiring the passing of a physical, but not doing so could evolve into a future problem. “In some cases, companies are billing out tens of millions of dollars to buy out an executive (from a previous employer) only to find out that the exec has an illness,” Dennis Carey of Los Angeles-based Korn Ferry told Fortune.
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