Transparency has never been a feature of the presidency of the United States, in fact just the opposite. There are many examples, none more illustrative than Woodrow Wilson.
Wilson not only suffered the aftermath of the Spanish Flu, which badly affected his handling of the Treaty of Versailles after World War I, but he then went on to sustain a severe stroke, leading to his wife and handlers managing the presidency at the end of his second term.
Similar calamitous health issues affected Franklin Roosevelt before he died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage while in office on April 12, 1945. He was suffering from soaring out-of-control blood pressure and ongoing heart problems, but the public was unaware.
In more recent times, despite the media megaphone and scrutiny growing exponentially, nevertheless, the presidency has remained a bastion of obfuscation. But does the American public have a right to know about the fitness of their leader? The answer is a resounding yes.
President Biden was operated on twice for a brain aneurysm back in 1988 and also sustained a bleed in his brain, which can have long-term consequences on cognition, as can his more recent diagnosis of chronic atrial fibrillation. He walks with a stiffened halting gait, which his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, has ascribed to orthopedic problems. But the gait persists, and could also be tied to ongoing issues in the brain or spinal cord.
After his last physical a year ago, O’Connor reported that an “extremely detailed” neurological assessment was “reassuring that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis.”
Noticeably absent from this assessment was any mention of cognition, cognitive testing or MRI scans of the brain. One year later, as Biden has faced increasing scrutiny over an apparently deteriorating memory which could well be affecting his judgment, there have been no updates. This is a mistake.
The periods of growing confusion over the dates of his son Beau’s tragic death, mixing up the president of Egypt with the president of Mexico, or saying he recently spoke with former president Francois Mitterand of France who died in 1996 or former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl who died in 2017, are more then simple gaffes. They are clearly memory lapses which seem tied to a cognitive decline that has been going on and worsening for several years.
Unfortunately, memory loss may well be tied to judgment and executive function. Biden’s response of anger and denial at the press conference last week was hardly reassuring.
What must the president do now to reassure the American public that those with serious concerns like myself are wrong? The answer is simple. He must submit to a full neurological evaluation now with extensive cognitive testing and an MRI of the brain. If these tests are normal, and he scores highly, this would do a lot to show that the media is overreacting and that video clips (no matter how many), can be cherry-picked and be misleading.
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on the president and his handling of official confidential documents provides another layer of concern about the president’s alleged “poor memory,” but since Hur is not a physician, these stated observations and concerns could be overcome by an extensive medical and neurological report.
FDR and Wilson notwithstanding, American voters have a right to know.
Marc Siegel MD is a professor of medicine and medical director of Doctor Radio at NYU Langone Health. He is a Fox News medical correspondent and author of the new book, “COVID; The Politics of Fear and the Power of Science.