Text/Huang Huiwen, Contributing Writer of CC Intelligence Bureau
Key Takeaways:
1. The New York Post reported that since August 2023, Cannard, a well-known Parkinson's disease expert, has entered the White House several times to meet with O'Connor, Biden's personal doctor. Kannard is a leading expert at the Walter Reed Center for Military Medical and has long supported the White House medical department. Although Biden and his team refused to conduct any cognitive tests, multiple meetings with Parkinson's disease experts have heightened concerns about his health.
2. Biden's flusteredness, exhaustion, and incoherence in the first debate are similar to early symptoms of Parkinson's disease, including tremors, stiffness in limbs, and decreased motor function. There are four typical motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, of which "bradykinesia" is the most important core symptom, and the other three include muscle stiffness, resting tremors, and postural instability. Diagnostic elements must include bradykinesia plus at least one other typical symptom to meet the diagnostic criteria with high confidence.
3. White House physician O'Connor insisted that Biden was in good health and fit to continue as president, but former White House physician Jackson and others questioned this claim, arguing that the White House may have hidden the truth. Biden underwent several medical exams while in office, but none of them involved cognitive tests.
White House visitor records exposed! The famous Parkinson's disease expert 8 entered the White House to meet with Biden's personal doctor
Biden is alleged to be pre-Parkinson's disease and has undergone early intervention?
On July 6, the New York Post broke a shocking news, and their visitor records released through the White House showed that Kevin Cannard, a well-known Parkinson's expert at Walter Reed Medical Center, has entered the White House eight times since August 2023 to meet with President Biden's royal physician Kevin O'Connor), who also met with Biden physician O'Connor on Jan. 17.
Dr. John Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed Hospital, also attended the January meeting. It is not clear who the fourth participant will be. Both doctors declined to comment on the matter. Seven of the other meetings took place in March with Megan Nasworthy, Walter Reed Medical Center's liaison officer to the White House.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News on July 5, Biden ruled out accepting and making public third-party cognitive tests. In fact, Biden has long refused to conduct any cognitive tests, and his aides have revealed that Biden has never believed that it is necessary. But this further fuels speculation about his "state of mind".
Cannard is an authority on Parkinson's and has practiced at the Walter Reed Military Center for nearly 20 years. According to Kannard on LinkedIn, he is a longtime "neurologist who supports the White House medical department." The Walter Reed Military Center, where he works, is also the royal hospital of the President of the United States where Biden underwent physical examinations and removed basal cell carcinoma last year.
▎ Biden with White House doctor O'Connor.
According to the inquiry, the latest paper of the Parkinson's disease expert was published in August 2023 in the journal Parkinson's and Related Diseases, which mainly studies Parkinson's disease in the early stages.
▎Kevin Cannard, a well-known Parkinson's expert at the Walter Reed Military Medical Center, "serves as a neurologist who supports the White House medical department."
The 81-year-old Biden performed badly in the "first televised debate of the 2024 election" held on June 27, looking flustered, tired, and incoherent on stage, and his hoarse voice and the image of being helped off the podium by First Lady Jill deeply stimulated Biden's supporters.
Although Biden has often had slurred speech, slip of the tongue, slow reactions, and stiff walking in recent years, it has not aroused the attention and discussion as today.
The New York Post and the British "Guardian" have successively broken the news that Parkinson's experts have entered the White House to meet Dr. Biden in the 8th century, which makes Biden, who is in the "hot discussion of withdrawal from the election", seem to have suffered another major blow.
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a disease caused by neurodegeneration of the brain (nerve nucleus at the root of the brain), mainly affecting the motor nervous system, symptoms usually appear slowly over time, the most obvious symptoms in the early stage are tremors, limb stiffness, motor dysfunction and gait abnormalities, and there may also be cognitive and behavioral problems; Dementia is fairly common in patients with severe disease. The main motor symptoms associated with Parkinson's disease are collectively known as parkinsonism.
There are four typical motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease, of which "bradykinesia" is the most important core symptom, and the other three include "muscle stiffness, resting tremors, and postural instability". Hypokinesia plus at least one other typical motor symptom must be present as diagnostic elements to meet the diagnostic criteria with high confidence. Typical Parkinson's patients can also develop dementia if they are not treated continuously.
Bradykinesia, as the name suggests, is a slowing of movements, and the amplitude of movement becomes smaller, especially when doing repetitive movements, because of the relationship between sluggish movements, the appearance of patients often shows an expressionless poker face. Stiffness causes muscles and joints to stiffen, and in more severe cases, the angle of the limbs.
Parkinson's disease is known to be the second most common neurodegenerative disease, second only to dementia.
The New York Post report pointed to "Dr. Cannard's meeting with White House Physician O'Connor to discuss the president's health." O'Connor, Biden's royal physician, should not have needed to meet with Parkinson's top expert multiple times if he does not have medical problems.
Former President Barack Obama and Trump's White House physician Ronny Jackson said in an interview that the White House physician's primary responsibility is the president's health, so the meeting is likely to be related to the president's health. In response to Biden's repeated miswords and strange behavior, Jackson publicly said that he believed O'Connor and first lady Jill Biden may have hidden the truth.
In the more than three years since Biden took office, he has conducted three physical examinations, but these medical examinations did not involve a "cognitive ability test" for an octogenarian. O'Connor has been Biden's royal physician since 2009, but has never advised Biden to take a cognitive test, according to an opinion piece in the Washington Post.
But that doesn't prevent O'Connor from reaching a unanimous conclusion in Biden's three annual physical exams: "President Biden remains a healthy, energetic man who is fit to successfully perform his presidential duties." And hinted that Biden's body is running in the 2024 election and there is nothing wrong with being re-elected to the presidency.
The biggest difference between these three physical examination reports is that the dates have been revised and different indicators have been changed, but the conclusions have not changed.
Although Biden has always refused to take a cognitive test, the Democratic Party "forced" Trump to take a cognitive test during his term of office. During the June 27 debate, the 78-year-old former president said he had taken two cognitive tests, had "achieved excellent results" and had recently won the golf club championship.
It is understood that Trump, who is three years younger than Biden, has taken the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MOCA) twice in 2020 and 2023. In July 2020, Trump revealed that he had taken a cognitive test at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and boasted that he had achieved very good results.
Before Biden's birthday last November, he went for a third cognitive test to show that he had no cognitive problems. implied that he did not have the early performance of "dementia", and gave this cognitive test to Biden as a birthday gift.
The outcome of this presidential debate basically reflects the fact that Trump's cognitive tests are real and reliable.
To clear up speculation, CNN medical analyst Sanjay Gupta called on Biden to perform a detailed neurological exam and publish the results. Gupta expressed concern about Biden's apparent insanity, inability to concentrate and wide-mouthed facial expressions.
Now that the ball is in Biden's hands, whether he will be forced by public opinion to take a cognitive test will also be revealed in the near future.
Biden saved his war: after the debate, there was a medical examination, the next step will be to work less, to sleep before eight o'clock......
President Biden's poor performance in the first presidential debate sent panic to the Democratic Party. It even set off a "change fever". Some Democrats are unsure of his suitability to serve the presidency. So far, at least three Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for him to withdraw from the race.
Former US President Barack Obama admitted that Biden had a "terrible" debate, while his rival, former President Donald Trump, suggested that he was in a "trance" and "suffocation".
The 10 days or so after the debate were the most difficult period Biden has encountered since he entered office. He has been engaged in a constant "self-rescue". The next period will be crucial for him to retain re-election.
On July 2, a White House press secretary said that Biden's doctors examined him after the debate, but only a "simple examination" rather than a "physical examination." The "physical examination" is said to be a private doctor's consultation. And Biden was tested for Covid, but it was found that it was just a cold.
On July 4, more than 20 Democratic governors attended a private meeting at the White House. The meeting lasted an hour, and Biden assured the governors about his physical health and determination to be re-elected.
Biden said he has undergone a medical examination since last week's presidential debate and is in good health.
According to media disclosures, Biden said: "It's just that I have a problem with my brain." He now needs to sleep a little more and has instructed his staff to avoid scheduling work and activities for him after 8pm.
The White House staff was quick to describe this as a joke. Biden's campaign chairman, Jen O'Malley Dillon, said: "He was obviously joking, and then he said the joke and that was the end of it." ”
Another explanation Biden gave for his lack of words and sometimes difficulty expressing them in full during the debate was sleep deprivation, attributing the performance to illness, jet lag, having numbers in his head and not listening to staff.
On July 5, the ABC interview was considered "the most important interview in Biden's long political career." In the high-profile television interview, he repeatedly refused to submit to an independent medical evaluation that would indicate to voters whether he was fit for re-election, while blaming a "bad episode" for his poor performance in the debate and saying that "there is no indication that he has any serious illness."
The 81-year-old Biden made no major mistakes in the 22-minute interview that day, thus not further damaging his precarious candidacy. But it seems unlikely that any concerns about his age and health over the next four years, as well as his ability to beat Trump in November, seem unlikely to completely quell fears.
▎ At a tense time when Biden is busy saving his political life, First Lady Jill Biden has become the latest cover star of Vogue. She is said to be the key figure in deciding whether Biden will withdraw from the race.
Deutsche Welle's bureau chief in Washington, Bohr, said: "The fact that the interview only touched on his health and did not have any questions about his current policy speaks for itself......
Bloomberg published a scathing article: The health of every candidate who is expected to be in the White House should be evaluated by a nonpartisan panel of doctors and the results made public. The health of US presidential candidates should not be a secret.
But is Biden willing to do it?
The president's health is actually a political issue.
Preface report: 81-year-old Biden debate sparks controversy, in addition to Alzheimer's, he still has these problems?