Biden’s doctor says he’s still “in good shape to perform his duties” after the president’s annual checkup. usa elections

Annual medical checkup is generally not news. Unless the patient, of course, is Joe Biden, the President of the United States. At the age of 81, given his plans to renew his post next November, his health and physical and mental abilities have become a matter of public interest and almost national security. If his compatriots give him the confidence again, he will be 82 when he takes the oath of office again early next year; 86, if he completes his second term.

Biden, who not long ago broke the record as the oldest president in the history of the United States, was tested this Wednesday at the Walter Reed Military Hospital in Bethesda, a suburb of Washington, which belongs to the state of Maryland. His doctor, Kevin O’Connor, for his part, said there are “no new concerns” regarding the president’s health. “It looks good. He is able to do his duty and fulfill his responsibilities to the fullest without exception,” O’Connor wrote. He added, “President Biden is a healthy, active and strong 81-year-old Are individuals.”

O’Connor also assured that a group of twenty doctors led by him had performed an “extremely detailed” neurological examination of him, finding no trace of stroke, neurological disorder or Parkinson’s disease.

Biden suffers from obstructive sleep apnea and sleeps most nights with a machine that helps clear his airways. Doctors attribute the president’s clumsiness in gait, which has become more pronounced in recent months, to “moderate to severe spondylosis,” which, translated, is a degeneration of the spinal discs that occurs with age. It happens. She also suffers from peripheral neuropathy, a nerve condition that causes pain and stiffness in her legs.

Biden’s announcement of his trip to the hospital already made headlines early in the morning, on a morning when the president had breakfast with the bittersweet results of his party’s primary in Michigan, which he won handily but showed a strong Also recorded the situation. The vote of conviction from the Arab community of one of the states was (and indeed is) decisive for the next election. The reason for this improvement 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, has been the focus of public discussion following the publication of the report by appointed special counsel Robert Hur. Even more was placed in the center of the. To investigate the management of confidential papers found in his possession during his tenure as Vice President last year. Hur could not accuse him of any crime, but he made an unsolicited diagnosis about his “bad memory,” which ruffled feathers with former President Donald Trump, who is more likely to be his potential opponent in next November’s elections. Are, and doubts arose even among the Democrats. , about Biden’s ability to win the election, and even more so, to serve a second term.

Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without limits.

subscribe

“I don’t remember when he was the Vice President; He forgot on the first day of the interview when his tenure ended (‘If it was in 2013, when did I stop being vice president?’), and on the second day of the interview when his tenure began (‘In 2009, I Still the Vice President?’). “She doesn’t even remotely remember when her son Beau died.” Biden served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. His son Beau died of a brain tumor in 2015.

octogenarian diseases

At the last visit to the doctor, in January last year, the President was also cured: he had some octogenarian diseases (namely: atrial fibrillation, hyperlipidemia, gastroesophageal reflux, seasonal allergies, spinal arthritis and, again, sensory peripheral Neuropathy minor in the legs), but then the doctor’s conclusion was also clear: “The President is a healthy and energetic man of 80 years of age, suitable to successfully perform the functions of the presidency, including that of head of the executive, head of state.” and Commander in Chief,” the report from 2009, signed by Biden’s doctor, O’Connor, concluded. A retired colonel from the US Army, he began working at the White House in 2006, when George W. Bush was in office. He was Biden’s doctor when he was Vice President. He was then brought back to the White House in 2021.

The previous medical report published by the White House in November 2021 was also full of good news for the patient: It said he was healthy and fit to carry out his duties, although he noted some comorbidities, such as more Persistent cough, peripheral neuropathy and cervical spondylosis which contributed to a certain stiffness in movements and which seems to have become more pronounced over the years. It also highlighted that Biden maintains a healthy lifestyle and healthy habits: he neither smokes nor drinks alcohol, and he exercises.

Follow all the information about elections in the United States our weekly newspaper,