An annual medical checkup is not usually news. Unless the patient is, of course, Joe Biden, president of the United States. At 81 years old, his health and physical and mental abilities have become a matter of public interest and an almost national security issue, given his plans to renew his position next November. . If his compatriots grant him confidence again, he will be 82 years old when he is sworn in again early next year; 86, if he consummates his second term.
Biden, who long ago broke the record as the oldest president in the history of the United States, underwent tests this Wednesday at the Walter Reed military hospital, in Bethesda, a suburb of Washington that belongs to the State of Maryland. His doctor, Kevin O’Connor, stated on his behalf that “there are no new concerns” regarding the president’s health. “He feels good. He remains capable of fulfilling his duty and fully executing his responsibilities without exception,” wrote O’Connor, who added: “President Biden is a healthy, active and robust 81-year-old man.”
O’Connor also assured that the group of twenty doctors he leads had subjected him to an “extremely detailed” neurological examination that left no trace of stroke, neurological disorders or Parkinson’s disease.
Biden does suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and sleeps most nights with a machine that helps clear his airways. The doctor attributes the president’s clumsiness in his movements, which has become more evident in recent months, to a “moderate to severe spondylosis,” which is, translated, a degeneration of the spinal discs, typical of age. He also suffers from peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition, which causes pain and stiffness in his feet.
The announcement that Biden was heading to the hospital already grabbed the headlines early in the morning, a morning in which the president had had breakfast with the bittersweet results of his party’s primaries in Michigan, in which he swept easily, but They also registered a strong vote of punishment from the Arab community of one of the decisive states of the next elections (and of all, really). The reason for this corrective is his Administration’s support for Israel in the war in Gaza.
Biden’s cognitive health, a favorite argument of his enemies to attack him for his alleged inability to perform one of the most demanding jobs in the world, was placed even more at the center of public discussion after the publication of special counsel Robert Hur’s report, appointed to investigate his handling of confidential papers from his time as vice president found in his possession last year. Hur could not accuse him of any crime, but he did slip an unsolicited diagnosis about his “bad memory,” which gave wings to former President Donald Trump, his more than likely rival at the polls next November, and raised doubts, also among Democrats, about Biden’s ability to win the election and, even more, complete a second term.
“I didn’t remember when he was vice president; he forgot on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was in 2013, when did I stop being vice president?’), and on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still vice president?’ ). He did not remember, even remotely, when his son Beau died.” Biden was Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. His son Beau died of a brain tumor in 2015.
Octogenarian ailments
In the previous visit to the doctor, in January of last year, the president also came out well: he had certain octogenarian ailments (namely: atrial fibrillation, hyperlipidemia, gastroesophageal reflux, seasonal allergies, spinal arthritis and, again, sensory peripheral neuropathy slight in the feet), but the doctor’s conclusion was then also blunt: “The president remains a healthy and vigorous man of 80 years old, fit to successfully carry out the functions of the presidency, including those of head of the Executive, head of State and commander in chief,” concluded the report signed by O’Connor, Biden’s doctor since 2009. A retired colonel from the US Army, he began working in the White House in 2006, when George W. Bush was in office. He was Biden’s doctor when he was vice president. He then brought it back to the White House in 2021.
The previous medical report published by the White House, dated November 2021, was also full of good news for the patient: it said that he was healthy and fit to carry out his duties, although he noted some ailments, such as a more frequent cough, peripheral neuropathy and cervical spondylosis that contributed to a certain rigidity in movements and that seems to have become more pronounced over the years. It also highlighted that Biden maintained a healthy life and healthy habits: he neither smokes, nor drinks, and he exercises.
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