After a combative exchange with the media on Monday over President Biden‘s health and administration’s transparency around the issue, White House Spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre released a memo from White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor in an attempt to quell the suspicion that multiple visits to the White House by neurologist Dr. Kevin Cannard pointed to a potential Parkinson’s diagnosis for Biden.
Cannard, a movement disorder specialist at Emory University and the Neurology Consultant to the White House Medical Unit since 2012, is the “longest serving neurologist” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center according to the memo.
In the document, O’Connor asserts that Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual examination and, while mentioning problems with Biden’s feet and sensitivity to heat/cold, reiterated a clean bill of health for the President, specifically addressing his neurological results and mentioning Parkinson’s in particular:
“The results of this year’s exam were detailed in my 28 February letter: ‘An extremely detailed neurological exam was again reassuring in 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, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy.’”
Dr. Kevin O’Connor
Because Cannard’s expertise includes Parkinson’s Disease, having published a paper on the condition recently, an uproar ensued after journalists became aware that Cannard had visited the White House eight times in as many months. Though the visitation records did not show Cannard meeting with Biden, speculation soared that Biden was being treated for Parkinson’s on the hush-hush.
My god the press owes Biden and the American people a massive apology for their irresponsible reporting pic.twitter.com/hmjpiOG4zd
— Brett Meiselas (@BMeiselas) July 9, 2024
The White House response is unlikely to make this speculation vanish.
[NOTE: Biden has visibly demonstrated, to a lay person’s eye, some of the symptoms associated with Parkinson’s, including a shuffling gait and speech challenges known as dysarthria. The Michael J. Fox Foundation describes the effect: “Sometimes speech sounds breathy or hoarse. People with Parkinson’s might slur words, mumble or trail off at the end of a sentence.”]
But these observations don’t mean Biden has the condition, though the manifestation of what seems like the symptoms are clearly a concern for a large portion of the public, including a growing number of elected Democrats who have called for Biden to step aside.
The report also asserts that Biden “exhibits no tremor, either at rest or with activity” — part of what O’Connor calls “reassuring,” as tremor is one of the most common and problematic symptoms of Parkinson’s.