The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has expanded its investigation of the cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s health, prostate cancer, and mental decline.
On June 4, Chairman James Comer subpoenaed five former senior White House aides to appear for transcribed interviews in addition to Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, M.D.
In May, Biden revealed he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The announcement left the public dumbfounded.
At 82, having spent more than five decades as a president, vice president, and senator, Biden had access to world-class medical care. Donald Trump Jr. was one of many political observers who speculated the diagnosis might have been covered up to win the 2020 election.
Biden’s doctors may have followed standard medical guidelines, and the recommendations about screenings for people of different ages can be controversial, writes health care economist Devon Herrick at the Goodman Institute Health Care Blog.
“Experts often say that men are more apt to die with prostate cancer than from prostate cancer,” wrote Herrick. “There is even some disagreement about whether doctors should treat most occurrences of prostate cancer in older men. That partly explains why Biden had not been screened in a decade.”
Screenings can be costly, time-consuming, and uncomfortable, and false positive results can lead to invasive procedures that do not markedly extend life or health.
Biden made his first public remarks about his cancer after a Memorial Day event. Biden said he was “feeling good” and expected to “be able to beat this.”
Duty to Disclose
In the case of Biden, an equal concern has been transparency and how presidential health is assessed and disclosed to the public.
Presidential physicals should be conducted by independent physicians whose findings are made public, and who are then required to take press questions, especially when there’s medical disagreement, says Merrill Matthews, Ph.D., a policy analyst and columnist for The Hill.
“Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who had been Biden’s personal doctor since 2009, announced in February of last year—four months before the disastrous Biden-Trump debate—that Biden was ‘fit for duty,’” said Matthews. “No one really believed the doctor. But if you look for the doctor’s signed physical today, it’s been taken down.”
Matthews says it is also notable what Ezekiel Emanuel, M.D., an oncologist, Democrat, and Biden administration policy advisor, told MSNBC on May 19, shortly after Biden’s cancer was announced.
“He had it while he was president,” Emanuel said. “He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. Yes, I don’t think there’s any disagreement about that.”
“The irony is that a PSA [prostate specific antigen] test is a standard part of a blood test for men—Trump’s April physical included one,” said Matthews. “It would be very strange for a doctor not to include that in a president’s physical, regardless of age, precisely because some prostate cancers can be very aggressive.”
Oversight, or Concealment?
Doctors and Biden’s team may have deliberately concealed the president’s cancer, says John Dale Dunn, M.D., a Texas physician and attorney.
“You know that Democrats lie for a living,” said Dunn. “It was in his bones because he had it for some time. If his physician didn’t test for it, that would be extraordinary.”
PSA screening is typically included in adult male checkups, and although the test isn’t perfect and false positives can occur, doctors usually follow up elevated results with repeat testing or closer monitoring, says Dunn.
“The talk of ‘aggressive’ prostate cancer is a smokescreen,” said. Dunn. “Bone metastasis tends to happen slowly in prostate cancer, so if Biden had bone involvement, the disease likely progressed over years.”
Checkups and Balances
There are questions about the value of routine, nonspecific annual physicals, says Dunn.
“The Mayo Clinic did an efficacy study on annual checkups many years ago and said they aren’t much good, that seeking medical attention for [specific] complaints is more likely to be efficacious.”
The evidence suggests that Biden and his team hid his cancer for political reasons, says Dunn.
“I think he had prostate cancer, and hid it when he was running for president,” said Dunn.
Kenneth Artz ([email protected]) writes from Tyler, Texas.
