Nicole Saphier, MD is a physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, and a bestselling author of ‘Panic attack.’ Their opinions are their own and do not reflect those of their employers.
In President Joe Biden’s first extended meeting with a professional journalist in more than 200 days, the 79-year-old commander-in-chief grappled with a question on the minds of many Americans.
“Some people ask if you’re fit for the job,” asked ’60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley, “and when you hear that, I wonder what you think.”
‘Look at me. Honestly to God, that’s all I think about. Look at me,’ replied the president.
Well, the United States is watching, Mr. President. As a doctor and a concerned citizen, I think it’s about time we got some real answers.
At his next annual physical at Walter Reed Medical Center, presumably in November, President Biden is due for a cognitive evaluation, as is President Donald Trump. And those test results should be released to the American public.
Although I am a medical doctor, I have not formally examined President Biden. I can’t diagnose the president or anyone else from afar. But common sense demands that we not ignore the worrying signs in front of our faces.
Since taking office, Biden’s physical condition appears to have declined.
In his November 2021 exam, the president’s doctor noted that Biden’s “ambulatory gait is noticeably stiffer and less fluid than it was about a year ago.”
The most recent apparent stumble occurred during a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in Washington, DC on Wednesday.
This is not surprising, in fact it is an expected fact that comes with age.
But the concern is not just about the physical health of an aging president, there are also concerns about whether he is cognitively fit to handle the rigors of his job.
Biden’s public missteps include major moments where he slurs, shuffles, mutters and appears confused at public events.
In fact, these haunting moments are almost too numerous to mention here.
After a White House garden event in August, the president attempted to shake hands with Sen. Chuck Schumer after he seemed to forget they had just shaken hands.
After his remarks at the Global Fund Conference in September, Biden looked lost as he walked off the stage, before asking the crowd where he should go.
In his ’60 Minutes’ interview, Biden contradicted official US policy by saying that the US military would defend Taiwan should the island be attacked by China. Hours later, the White House retracted that statement.
In February 2022, the president was wrong when Russia seemed poised to attack Ukraine.
“It’s one thing if it’s a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and what not to do and so on,” he said of a hypothetical US response.
“Are you giving Putin permission to make a small foray into the country?” a reporter followed.
The president laughed and said, ‘Good question. That’s what it sounded like, right? He did not correct his statement at the time.
The most recent apparent stumble occurred during a White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health in Washington, DC on Wednesday.
As the president praised lawmakers in the room, Biden appears to search for Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski in the crowd.
Jackie, are you here? he said. ‘Where’s Jackie? He shouldn’t be here.
In his ’60 Minutes’ interview, Biden contradicted official US policy by saying that the US military would defend Taiwan should the island be attacked by China. Hours later, the White House retracted that statement.
Walorski was a prominent supporter of legislation to address food insecurity among Americans.
In August, Representative Walorski and two aides were tragically killed in a car accident in her Northern Indiana district.
President Biden acknowledged her death in a statement at the time. Walorski’s brother revealed Wednesday that President Biden even called Walorski’s family shortly after the accident and expressed his personal condolences.
“He made a phone call after my sister was killed and he was very candid in conveying the grieving process…” Keith Walorski told the New York Post. ‘Yeah, he was a big mess today. Inexcusable? No. Unforgivable? No. I’m not going to hold it against him. I’m sorry for him.
One reasonably asks, why did the president seem to think that Representative Walorski was alive and in the room with him, if he spoke to his family eight weeks ago about his death?
It is not inappropriate to ask if the president’s short-term memory is below average.
This latest mistake came up repeatedly during Wednesday’s White House briefing during which press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to admit the president had made a mistake.
Instead, he said the late congresswoman was “the most important thing to him” for the president, as members of her family were due to meet with him this week.
His explanation did not sit well with the White House press corps. And it shouldn’t. There are good reasons to question President Biden’s mental acuity, and I am not the first to raise this issue.
In August 2021, retired surgeon and former Iowa Congressman Greg Ganske wrote in the des moines record about his concerns about the president’s “mental acuity.”
Ganske recounted his personal interaction with the then-senator in 1997 when Biden was 54 years old, and Ganske noted how much Biden had changed in 20 years.
“It pains me very much to see a decline in President Biden and it worries me,” he wrote.
“There is enough evidence to legitimately demand an investigation into his mental acuity,” he concluded.
(Above) While surveying the aftermath of the devastating storms that hit Kentucky, Biden got off Marine One and struggled for 30 seconds to put on his jacket, even with the help of First Lady Jill Biden.
In a new statement to DailyMail.com, Ganke writes: “I am being vindicated.”
During President Trump’s tenure, political pundits and medical professionals did not hesitate to question his mental health.
In 2018, President Trump received a cognitive test as part of his annual health exam.
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is designed to assess cognitive decline or early dementia. According to the White House, President Trump, who was 72 at the time, received a perfect score of 30 out of 30.
It is not indecent to ask for full transparency of the physical and cognitive fitness of our political leaders. These can be difficult topics to discuss, but the public deserves transparency.
America needs to do its best as the country grapples with the fallout from the pandemic, the war in Europe, the opioid crisis, a failing public education system, continuing inflation, and a myriad of other pressing issues.
As medical professionals, we assess future risk and necessary health screenings based on individual life expectancy and whether your health status is compatible with future challenges.
President Biden and our political leaders must not be excluded from this essential determination. Americans deserve no less.