Parkinson’s Skilled Visited the White Home Eight Instances in Eight Months

An professional on Parkinson’s illness from Walter Reed Nationwide Army Medical Middle visited the White Home eight instances in eight months from final summer time via this spring, together with at the least as soon as for a gathering with President Biden’s doctor, in accordance with official customer logs.

The professional, Dr. Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist who focuses on motion issues and just lately printed a paper on Parkinson’s. The logs, launched by the White Home, doc visits from July 2023 via March of this 12 months. More moderen 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 concerning the president or was 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, a web site for well being professionals, lists him as a “neurology advisor 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 vice chairman, present that Dr. Cannard made at the least 10 visits in 2012 plus a household tour; 4 in 2013; one in 2014; 4 in 2015; and eight in 2016. Mr. Trump rescinded Mr. Obama’s voluntary White Home guests disclosure coverage, so information aren’t out there for his 4 years in workplace.

Dr. Cannard didn’t reply to repeated requests for remark. In an announcement launched at 9:40 p.m. on Monday, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White Home doctor, confirmed that Dr. Cannard had seen Mr. Biden thrice throughout the three and a half years of his presidency, however didn’t instantly say whether or not any of his different visits have been associated to consulting on the president’s well being.

As a substitute, Dr. O’Connor implied that the majority of Dr. Cannard’s visits have been associated to treating different individuals who work on the White Home. “Previous to the pandemic, and following its finish, he has held common neurology clinics on the White Home Medical Clinic in help of the 1000’s of active-duty members assigned in help of White Home operations,” Dr. O’Connor wrote.

Confirming what a White Home spokesman mentioned earlier within the day, Dr. O’Connor mentioned that Mr. Biden had seen Dr. Cannard annually as a part of his general annual bodily checkup and that the most recent examination had discovered no signal of Parkinson’s. “President Biden has not seen a neurologist outdoors of his annual bodily,” Dr. O’Connor wrote.

Dr. Cannard met on Jan. 17 with Dr. O’Connor in addition to Dr. John Atwood, a heart specialist at Walter Reed, and one other particular person 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 mentioned the president’s medical crew had carried out “a particularly detailed neurologic examination” that had yielded “no findings which might be according to” 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 advisable for older adults.

The White Home has mentioned in current days that there was no purpose 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 towards Mr. Trump on June 27. In interviews with ABC Information on Friday and MSNBC on Monday, Mr. Biden mentioned he had the equal of a neurological examination each 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 Submit 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 information point out that he was visiting Joshua Simmons, whose title just isn’t listed.

Dr. Cannard’s eight more moderen 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 particular person visited for seven of these conferences, which constantly occurred early, between 7 and 9 a.m. on Fridays, except the final assembly, which occurred on Thursday, March 28, the day earlier than Good Friday. The logs be aware a tenth go to that seemed to be for a household tour of the White Home.

Andrew Bates, a White Home spokesman, mentioned that whereas the president at all times travels with common medical doctors, “he has not seen specialists in Delaware,” the place he has personal residences.

Across the time of the primary conferences, Dr. Cannard printed a analysis paper within the journal Parkinsonism & Associated Problems on the early phases of Parkinson’s.

An array of neurologists who haven’t personally examined Mr. Biden mentioned they noticed signs in his public appearances that have been according to Parkinson’s or a associated illness, resembling 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.

White Home officers mentioned that Mr. Biden had proven no indicators of Parkinson’s and that Dr. O’Connor discovered no purpose to re-evaluate Mr. Biden for the illness since his bodily in February. Mr. Bates additionally mentioned the president has by no means taken Levodopa or different medicine for that situation.

In his interview with ABC Information on Friday, Mr. Biden declined to comply with an impartial neurological and cognitive examination. “I get a cognitive take a look at each day,” he mentioned, that 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 subject.

“If there was one thing that was fallacious that evening, it’s not prefer it comes and that’s one evening and it goes away,” he mentioned. “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 evening of that debate, I went out. I used to be out till 2 o’clock within the morning that very evening. That very evening. It drives me nuts, folks speaking about this.”