Doctors called out Pentagon officials for being „misleading“ to the public after they called Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s prostate cancer surgery elective.
Doctors are calling out the Pentagon for calling Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recent medical procedure to treat prostrate cancer an „elective“ surgery,“ saying that characterization is misleading.
The 70-year-old Defense secretary was hospitalized on Jan. 1 for complications from what officials are still calling an „elective“ medical procedure that was later revealed to be related to prostate cancer. The Pentagon chief’s cancer diagnosis was made public Tuesday. The administration had previously only disclosed on Friday that Austin had been hospitalized earlier that week.
The Biden administration has taken heat for its handling of Austin’s absence, particularly on the issue of transparency, and, now, its facing backlash for telling the public last week when details of Austin’s condition were scarce that he had undergone an „elective“ surgery.
Speaking Tuesday with Fox News Digital, Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, said Austin’s prostatectomy is „technically an elective surgery,“ but that characterization is misleading.
„Elective is divided into emergency and non-emergency. We take elective mostly to mean a nose job and so the word elective is misleading. This is prostate cancer,“ Siegel said. „Not all prostate cancer is operated on, but they decided to take it out because they thought it was aggressive-probably from the biopsy,“ he said.
Siegel said it is misleading to call Austin’s prostate cancer surgery a minimally invasive surgery.
„Even though the da Vinci robot is technically considered minimally invasive surgery, it implies that it’s a small operation.
