A White House doctor who conducted Biden’s annual physical in February, including a neurological exam, reported Biden was “fit for duty.”
Topline
President Joe Biden has refused calls to take a cognitive exam in the wake of his startling June debate performance that’s heightened concerns about his health, but doctors say an exam alone couldn’t make a definitive determination whether Biden is fit for duty and could be misconstrued by non-medical professionals who don’t have a full picture of the president’s health.Key Facts
Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday that the challenges of his job amount to a daily cognitive test—though multiple top Democrats, including Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. and Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have suggested both Biden, 81, and former President Donald Trump, 78, should undergo cognitive testing amid the backlash to Biden’s debate performance.
Such tests aren’t routinely performed and are usually conducted when a patient or their family expresses concern about potential signs of mental decline, such as repeatedly misplacing keys, forgetting appointments, or having trouble concentrating or thinking of word choices, experts said.
When asked whether he would be willing to take such an exam, Biden told Stephanopoulos “no one said I had to,” apparently referring to his doctors.
There are varying degrees of cognitive testing available, ranging from a detailed, hours-long neuropsychological evaluation that includes writing, drawing or answering questions, according to the Cleveland Clinic, to a 10-minute “Mini-Mental State Examination,” which can include a scoring mechanism that assesses the odds of dementia, the severity of cognitive impairment and the patient’s presumptive education level.
Multiple doctors, including former New York Times medical correspondent Dr.
