WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden stays a “wholesome, vigorous 80-year-old male who’s match to efficiently execute the duties of the presidency,” the White Home doctor stated Thursday after the president acquired his first bodily examination in a yr and a half.
One small lesion, nonetheless, was faraway from the president’s chest through the examination and shall be despatched for a conventional biopsy, Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, stated in a letter that in any other case principally mirrored his final medical checkup from November 2021.
Biden’s routine bodily has taken on further scrutiny because the octogenarian is extensively anticipated to announce a reelection bid within the coming weeks or months. Already the oldest individual to imagine the presidency, Biden could be 86 on the finish of a second time period.
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Outcomes of the biopsy are pending. O’Connor noticed that Biden’s gait stays stiff however has not worsened since his bodily in 2021, attributing the stiffness to spinal arthritis, a beforehand damaged foot and delicate neuropathy in his toes.
Neurological examination reveals no mind problems, motor weak point
Biden underwent an “extraordinarily detailed” neurological examination that O’Connor stated uncovered no findings in line with a mind or central neurological dysfunction, akin to a stroke, a number of sclerosis or Parkinson’s Illness.
The examination did present a “delicate peripheral neuropathy” in each toes, O’Connor stated. Biden didn’t reveal any motor weak point, the doctor stated, however confirmed a refined distinction in warmth/chilly sensation. O’Connor confused that Biden’s signs haven’t progressed and have truly improved since his final examination.
Biden, who had a COVID-19 an infection in July, adopted by a rebound case, has not skilled any residual signs related to “Lengthy COVID,” O’Connor stated.
Biden weighs 178 kilos and had a blood strain charge of of 128/76 and pulse charge of 69, the doctor’s report stated. That is six kilos lower than the 184 kilos he weighed in 2021.
Biden experiences occasional bouts of gastroesophageal reflux, which causes him to clear his throat usually and should contribute to occasional cough and sinus congestion, the report stated. The signs are sometimes exacerbated shortly after meals. The doctor stated he’ll proceed to take the acid blocker Pepcid.
Whereas Biden acknowledges that questions on his age are authentic, he has additionally insisted he’s able to serving 4 extra years.
“Watch me,” Biden has stated greater than as soon as, together with in an interview final week.
“I might be utterly, totally sincere with the American individuals if I believed there was any well being drawback, something that might maintain me from having the ability to do the job,” Biden instructed PBS NewsHour. “And, so we’ll see. However, you recognize, I simply — I believe individuals have to only watch me.”
White Home dismisses issues about Biden’s age
Republicans have already gone after his age.
Delivering the GOP response to Biden’s State of the Union tackle final week, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders famous she’s the nation’s youngest governor whereas Biden is “the oldest president in American historical past.”
Nikki Haley, who entered the Republican presidential race this week, is asking for “necessary psychological competency assessments for politicians over 75 years outdated.”
“When individuals ship somebody to Washington, they should know they’re on the high of their sport,” Haley instructed Fox Information Thursday.
Haley is pushing for a brand new era of leaders, an argument that works towards each Biden and former President Donald Trump, 76.
Requested about Haley’s feedback, White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pointed to what Biden has completed as president, together with defying expectations within the midterm elections.
“It’s stunning that we get this query if you take a look at the file of this president,” she stated. “He’s clearly succesful in so some ways and on so many ranges. And he’s going to proceed to do this within the years coming.”
Nonetheless, half of registered voters suppose later center age, between 51 and 65 years outdated, is the best age for a president, in response to a USA TODAY/Suffolk College Ballot taken on the finish of final yr.
A further 25% picked earlier center age, 35 to 50 years outdated. Lower than 1 p.c stated their very best president could be 80 or older.
Jean-Pierre stated scheduling difficulties prevented Thursday’s bodily from taking place sooner.
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