Barack Obama’s former physician criticized Joe Biden’s medical oversight, arguing that his current doctor should have ensured the president underwent multiple cognitive evaluations throughout his time in office.
Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as Obama’s White House physician from 2009 to 2013, told The Post in a phone interview Saturday that Biden — and any politician over 70 — ought to be tested for mental acuity yearly, with results shared publicly.
“My position is that a 78-year-old candidate, Trump at the time, an 82-year-old president [Biden] would both benefit from neurocognitive testing,” said Kuhlman, referencing a proposal he made in his book Transforming Presidential Healthcare, released in November 2024.
Kuhlman emphasized that anyone in their seventies will experience natural age-related mental decline. He said he’s been recommending such evaluations for almost a year, including in a New York Times op-ed that coincided with Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
“If you look at his three physicals that were released as president, Dr. [Kevin] O’Connor wrote five to six pages, single-spaced. He referenced 10 to 20 specialist physicians.”
Despite the length and detail of Biden’s medical records, Kuhlman noted there were no cognitive assessments performed, such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment that Trump took during his presidency — a short exam designed to screen for early signs of dementia.
“I have no doubt that President Trump aced it,” Kuhlman said. He added that, in the interest of transparency, the Biden administration should also disclose any CT scans conducted after the July 2024 assassination attempt on the Republican nominee in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Kuhlman pointed out that while the Montreal test can catch early signs of cognitive impairment, it’s not sufficient for diagnosing more advanced decline. He said that when doctors evaluate aging presidents, they should also focus on cancer and heart health in addition to brain function.
According to Kuhlman, brain functions like memory, logical reasoning, reaction time, and spatial awareness generally start deteriorating around the age of 60.
O’Connor, who was Biden’s physician during his years as vice president, worked alongside Kuhlman in the White House medical unit.
Although Kuhlman expressed “respect” for O’Connor’s medical decisions, he also told The Washington Post, “Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest.”
O’Connor gave only one media interview during Biden’s presidency. In July 2024, shortly after Biden exited the race and was replaced by Vice President Kamala Harris, O’Connor told The Post that Biden’s mental state was “excellent,” despite widespread concern after a poor debate showing on June 27.
Unlike past presidential physicians, O’Connor never took reporters’ questions in the briefing room. His annual health reports noted various physical conditions, but made only broad statements about Biden’s mental fitness, stating he was “fit for duty.”
“The president doesn’t need a cognitive test,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in February 2024, after Biden’s final physical. “He passes a cognitive test every day.”
Visitor logs show Biden met in January 2024 with Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s expert and longtime physician at Walter Reed. O’Connor said that meeting was part of Biden’s annual medical evaluation.
“If somebody turns up a report that Kevin Cannard said he has Parkinson’s,” said Kuhlman, “then that’s a completely different story, but we have 14 years of Kevin Cannard evaluating him and that’s who I would trust.”
O’Connor denied that Biden had Parkinson’s, though some physicians were not convinced.
“I could’ve diagnosed him from across the Mall,” neurologist Dr. Tom Pitts told NBC in July 2024, citing symptoms like Biden’s stiffness, slower pace, and shuffling steps.
Earlier that year, in February, Special Counsel Robert Hur chose not to prosecute Biden over his mishandling of classified documents, citing the likelihood that a jury would perceive him as “a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
The House Oversight Committee, under Republican leadership, issued a subpoena to O’Connor last Thursday, compelling him to testify about Biden’s cognitive condition on June 27.
Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) included a letter with the subpoena suggesting that O’Connor’s “financial relationship with the Biden family” could have played a role in concealing the president’s mental decline from the public.
Jean-Pierre, who left the Democratic Party and is now preparing to release a tell-all memoir about dysfunction inside the Biden administration, is also expected to be called to testify.
Shortly before the release of a new book alleging a systematic effort to hide Biden’s deterioration in his final years, Biden disclosed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones.
In Original Sin, authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson report that O’Connor resisted giving Biden a cognitive test.
Kuhlman said O’Connor had previously run prostate cancer screenings when they both worked in the White House, but if the last PSA test taken during Biden’s vice presidency showed no cause for concern, further testing over the next decade might have been deemed unnecessary.
“I hope that Kevin O’Connor had that conversation every year with his patient, Joe Biden, and documented that in the medical record,” Kuhlman said. “If he did the PSA and chose not to release it, I don’t agree with that.”
{Matzav.com}