An skilled on Parkinson’s illness from Walter Reed Nationwide Army Medical Middle visited the White Home eight occasions in eight months from final summer time by way of this spring, together with no less than as soon as for a gathering with President Biden’s doctor, in line with official customer logs.
The skilled, Dr. Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist who focuses on motion issues and lately printed a paper on Parkinson’s. The logs, launched by the White Home, doc visits from July 2023 by way of March of this yr. Newer visits, if there have been any, wouldn’t be launched till later underneath the White Home’s voluntary disclosure coverage.
It was unclear whether or not Dr. Cannard was on the White Home to seek the advice of particularly in regards to the president or there for unrelated conferences. Dr. Cannard’s LinkedIn web page describes him as “supporting the White Home Medical Unit” for greater than 12 years. His biography on Doximity, an internet site for well being professionals, lists him as a “neurology marketing consultant to the White Home Medical Unit and the doctor to the president” from 2012 to 2022, which would come with the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Donald J. Trump.
Data from the Obama administration, when Mr. Biden was vp, present that Dr. Cannard made 10 visits in 2012 plus a household tour; 4 visits in 2013; and one in 2014. Data couldn’t be instantly discovered on-line for 2015 or 2016. Mr. Trump rescinded Mr. Obama’s voluntary White Home guests disclosure coverage, so data will not be obtainable for his 4 years in workplace.
Dr. Cannard didn’t reply to repeated requests for remark. The White Home didn’t remark particularly on the aim of his current visits. “All kinds of specialists from the Walter Reed system go to the White Home complicated to deal with the hundreds of navy personnel who work on the grounds,” Andrew Bates, a White Home spokesman, stated in an announcement.
Mr. Bates stated that the president “has been seen by a neurologist every year” as a part of his total annual bodily checkup and “that examination has discovered no signal of Parkinson’s and he isn’t being handled for it.” He declined to supply dates of any conferences between Mr. Biden and any of his specialists however stated “there have been no neurologist visits apart from the one for his bodily per yr, three in complete.”
Dr. Cannard met on Jan. 17 with Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White Home doctor, in addition to Dr. John Atwood, a heart specialist at Walter Reed, and one other individual within the early night within the White Home residence clinic, the logs confirmed. That assembly got here a month earlier than Mr. Biden underwent his most up-to-date annual bodily checkup at Walter Reed on Feb. 28.
In a six-page letter launched after that checkup, Dr. O’Connor stated the president’s medical staff had carried out “a particularly detailed neurologic examination” that had yielded “no findings which might be in step with” Parkinson’s, stroke or different central neurological issues. Dr. O’Connor didn’t say whether or not the examination contained frequent assessments for assessing cognitive decline or detecting indicators of dementia which are usually beneficial for older adults.
The White Home has stated in current days that there was no motive to conduct additional examination since February. Questions on Mr. Biden’s well being, and particularly about Parkinson’s, have proliferated since his disastrous debate efficiency in opposition to Mr. Trump on June 27. In interviews with ABC Information on Friday and MSNBC on Monday, Mr. Biden stated he had the equal of a neurological examination day-after-day due to the stress of presidential duties.
The customer logs, which have additionally been reported by different information organizations, together with The New York Put up and The Guardian, indicated that Dr. Cannard’s first recorded go to to the White Home throughout the Biden administration was on Nov. 15, 2022. The data point out that he was visiting Joshua Simmons, whose title isn’t listed.
Dr. Cannard’s eight newer visits began on July 28, 2023, when he was listed as assembly with Megan Nasworthy, a White Home liaison to Walter Reed. She was listed because the individual visited for seven of these conferences, which constantly occurred early, between 7 and 9 a.m. on Fridays, except for the final assembly, which occurred on Thursday, March 28, the day earlier than Good Friday. The logs notice a tenth go to that gave the impression to be for a household tour of the White Home.
Across the time of the primary conferences, Dr. Cannard printed a analysis paper within the journal Parkinsonism & Associated Issues on the early levels of Parkinson’s.
An array of neurologists who haven’t personally examined Mr. Biden stated they noticed signs in his public appearances that have been in step with Parkinson’s or a associated illness, reminiscent of hypophonic speech, ahead flexed posture, a shuffling gait, masked face and irregular speech sample. However they emphasised {that a} particular prognosis couldn’t be given with out firsthand examination.
Mr. Bates, the White Home spokesman, has beforehand stated that Dr. O’Connor discovered no motive to re-evaluate Mr. Biden for Parkinson’s illness since his bodily in February. Mr. Bates additionally stated the president had proven no indicators of Parkinson’s and had by no means taken Levodopa or different medicine for that situation.
In his interview with ABC Information on Friday, Mr. Biden declined to conform to an unbiased neurological and cognitive examination. “I get a cognitive check day-after-day,” he stated, which means that the distinctive challenges of the presidency successfully examined him every day.
Calling into “Morning Joe” on MSNBC on Monday morning, Mr. Biden insisted once more that his confusion and halting efficiency on the debate have been an aberration due partially to an an infection or different minor ailment, and weren’t an indication of a bigger medical difficulty.
“If there was one thing that was improper that night time, it’s not prefer it comes and that’s one night time and it goes away,” he stated. “That’s why I’ve been out. I’ve been testing myself, testing all over the place I am going. Going out and making the case. The night time of that debate, I went out. I used to be out till 2 o’clock within the morning that very night time. That very night time. It drives me nuts, folks speaking about this.”