Checkup finds Joe Biden 'vigorous'; Kamala Harris in power for over an hour
Bethesda, Nov 20: US President Joe Biden remains healthy and vigorous and fit for duty, but is showing some signs of aging, his doctor said Friday after the oldest president in American history underwent his first routine physical in office and in a history-making moment briefly transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris while he underwent a colonoscopy.
Harris, the first woman, first Black person and first person of South Asian descent to be vice president, was for one hour and 25 minutes acting president while Biden was under anesthesia.
Over more than five hours Friday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the president underwent a battery of blood, physical, gastrointestinal, dental, vision and neurological examinations. Dr. Kevin O'Connor, who has been Biden's primary care physician since 2009, wrote in a six-page memo released by the White House that Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday, remains a healthy, vigorous, 78-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.
O'Connor, however, revealed that he investigated Biden for increased instances of throat clearing during public remarks and a stiffening of his gait. O'Connor reported that Biden's coughing was the result of gastrointestinal reflux and that the stiffened gait was the result of a new diagnosis of mild peripheral neuropathy, spinal arthritis and compensation for a broken foot sustained a year ago.
Interest in Biden's health has been high ever since he declared his candidacy for the White House in 2019 and remains intense as speculation about a 2024 reelection bid swirls. The visit to the medical center in the Washington suburbs was for his first routine physical exam as president and his first since December 2019.
As part of the screening, Biden underwent an extremely detailed neurological exam that ruled out stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, but caught the neuropathy, which is nerve damage in the hands and feet. O'Connor said the most common cause of the condition is diabetes, but Biden is not diabetic. Biden, he said, would soon try custom orthotics to improve his gait.
During the course of Biden's colonoscopy a benign-appearing polyp of about 3 millimeters was identified and removed and would be studied over the coming week. O'Connor said Biden has never had colon cancer.
Biden's reported body mass index classified him as slightly overweight, but his cholesterol was under control. Biden, O'Connor said, is prescribed the anticoagulant Eliquis, the statin Crestor and the seasonal allergy spray Dymista, and regularly takes the over-the-counter allergy pill Allegra and the antacid Pepcid.
O'Connor reported that Biden does not use tobacco products or drink alcohol and that he exercises at least five days per week.
Press secretary Jen Psaki said he resumed his duties after speaking with Harris and White House chief of staff Ron Klain at approximately 11:35 a.m.
As Biden left the medical center in the afternoon, he said he was feeling Great!
Great physical and a great House of Representatives vote, he said, referring to the House passage of his roughly 2 trillion social and environmental agenda.
After arriving back at the White House, he said Nothing's changed with his health, joking, "We're in great shape, and I'm looking forward to celebrating my 58th birthday.
While serving as acting president Harris was working from her office in the West Wing, Psaki said. She later traveled to Ohio once Biden awoke from the procedure.
Biden was keenly aware of the history he was making when he selected Harris to be his running mate, Psaki said, adding that she made history every day in the job.
Today was certainly another chapter in that history I think that will be noted for women, young girls across the country," she added.
During Biden's last physical exam, doctors found the former vice president to be healthy, vigorous and fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency," according to a doctor's report at the time.
In that report, O'Connor said that since 2003, Biden has had episodes of atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat that's potentially serious but treatable. At the time, O'Connor cited a list of tests that showed Biden's heart was functioning normally and his only needed care was a blood thinner to prevent the most worrisome risk, blood clots or stroke.
Biden had a brush with death in 1988, requiring surgery to repair two brain aneurysms, weak bulges in arteries, one of them leaking. Biden has never had a recurrence, his doctor said, citing a test in 2014 that examined his arteries.
Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chief of general internal medicine and geriatrics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, read the White House report and said it contained nothing that's particularly worrisome.
All in all, according to this report it seems like he's in pretty good shape, with very common age-related illness,'' including atrial fibrillation and stiff gait, Linder said.
While the cause of Biden's mild neuropathy is unknown, Linder said it is not an unusual problem and not a cause for concern unless it's bothersome for the president. He added that there is no reason to think the small polyp that was removed was cancerous, given Biden's previous medical history.
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BJP won't cross 50-mark in Bengal polls, says TMC in response to Shah's 'two-thirds majority' claim
Kolkata (PTI): The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing him of peddling falsehoods and making baseless claims about securing a two-thirds majority in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Senior TMC leader and state education minister Bratya Basu told reporters that Shah's remarks were based on hollow assertions and claimed that the BJP would not even cross the 50-seat mark in the polls.
"Shah will keep coming and going like a tourist. Such visits will serve no purpose," Basu said on the sidelines of a programme.
"The BJP will not even cross the 50-mark in the assembly polls and suffer a humiliating defeat," Basu claimed.
Addressing a press conference here, Shah claimed that the BJP would form the next government in the state with a "two-thirds majority in 2026".
"We will not only identify infiltrators, but we'll also drive them out. Bengal will have a new BJP government after April 15, 2026, as people have made up their minds," he said.
Shah also took a dig at the Trinamool Congress government on the issue of women's safety.
"It has been officially stated that women should not step out of their homes after 7 pm. What era are we living in? Are we living in the Mughal period?," he said.
"Mamata ji, this is a free India. Ensuring that women can step out safely whenever they choose is a constitutional right. Your government has failed to provide this basic security," he added.
Criticising Shah over his comments on women's safety in the state, senior TMC leader and minister Sashi Panja urged the Union home minister to visit Bengal during the festive season, like Durga Puja and Christmas, when thousands of women move about freely and participate in festivities.
"In case a stray incident happens, our administration takes prompt action to bring the culprits to book. Instead, the rapists of Bilkis Bano are garlanded by your party activists. Your party shields Kuldeep Sengar and Brij Bhusan, who were accused of committing atrocities. Amitji should not lecture on women's security," she said.
Panja accused Shah and his party at the Centre of coming in the way of the passage of the Aparajita Bill, which would have ensured exemplary punishment to rapists after conviction.
On Shah's claims about the industrial decline of Bengal, Panja said since 2011, investment of Rs 13.8 lakh-crore came to the state.
"Bengal occupies the second berth in the MSME sector as per the figures available with the Centre, and he is peddling falsehood about the industrial growth of Bengal," she said.
TMC spokesperson Jay Prakash Majumdar also dismissed Shah's assertion that the BJP does not engage in temple-based polarising politics.
"Everyone knows the BJP campaigned on temple-masjid politics in both the 2019 and 2024 elections. This brand of politics will again be rejected by the people of Bengal," Majumdar said.
