Doctor finds Joe Biden fit for duty, ahead of expected 2024 White House run
- The US president shows no long-term symptoms despite 2 brushes with Covid-19 last year, a routine medical check-up found
- The doctor’s conclusions are likely to be closely scrutinised, with the 80-year-old leader – the oldest in US history – expected to seek re-election
Despite testing positive twice last year for the coronavirus, US President Joe Biden has no long-term symptoms and has been declared “healthy, vigorous” and “fit” to handle his White House responsibilities, according to a routine medical check-up performed Thursday.
The findings were contained in a memo by Biden’s doctor, summarising the exams conducted during a three-hour stay at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland.
The conclusions reached by Kevin O’Connor, the president’s personal doctor since 2009, are likely to be highly scrutinised as the oldest president in history makes plans for an expected re-election campaign.
O’Connor concluded in a five-page memo that Biden “remains a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency”. But the doctor did not speculate about where Biden’s health might be at age 86, when a second term might end.
The president had a lesion removed from his chest that is undergoing a traditional biopsy.
But Thursday’s results largely matched the findings after the president’s last exam in November 2021, which said his coughing was due to acid reflux and his stiffened gait was the result of spinal arthritis, a previously broken foot and neuropathy in his feet.