O’Connor, a doctor of osteopathic medicine who serves as Joe Biden’s doctor, has continued to face questions about the president’s health.
Amid concerns about President Joe Biden’s mental acuity after his lackluster presidential debate performance last week, calls for the president’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, to conduct cognitive testing have grown—including from some of his former colleagues.
Biden and former President Donald Trump participated in the first presidential debate of this year’s election cycle, which was hosted by CNN in Georgia, last Thursday. However, while Biden, 81, and Trump, 78, have faced concerns about their age and cognitive abilities, Biden failed to quell those concerns during the debate after he appeared to lose his train of thought at times and stumbled in his responses. A Biden aide, meanwhile, previously told Newsweek that the president was battling a cold.
O’Connor, a doctor of osteopathic medicine and a retired U.S. Army colonel who serves as Biden’s doctor, has continued to face questions about the president’s health, more specifically cognitive testing, after releasing a six-page synopsis in February that said Biden was fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency. The report did not include a cognitive test.
In an article published on Saturday, The spoke with three of O’Connor’s former colleagues in the White House medical unit who said Biden’s debate performance suggested that he should undergo cognitive screening.
Cognitive tests typically involve exercises that gauge short-term memory, attention and other key functions, and can be accompanied by a physical examination, such as gauging a person’s ability to perform rapid movements.
Ira Monka, president of the American Osteopathic Association (AOA), also told the Post that he thinks an initial cognitive review is needed to see if more tests are necessary.
„Some of the stumbling and missing of the words, whatever was going on, would be a sign to say, maybe this person needs—not maybe—this person should get testing just to rule out the fact that there could be some underlying changes“, Monka who visited with O’Connor at the White House this year told the newspaper.
