President Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 race has prompted a flurry of discussion about his health and cognitive fitness. Medical experts have weighed in on the president's recent speech, highlighting both concerns and potential improvements in his condition.
President Biden's decision to withdraw from the 2024 race has sparked a debate about his health and cognitive fitness. Multiple doctors shared their opinions with Fox News Digital about the president's perceived health status based on his recent speech.
Biden's Withdrawals Raise Concerns About His Health
Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center and a Fox News medical contributor, noted that Biden seemed to be reading from a teleprompter on Wednesday night, as he often does. This made it difficult for those watching to gauge his medical fitness.
Although Biden stumbled over his words a few times, Siegel was more concerned about the president's apparent "lack of emotion."
Biden's Withdrawals Raise Concerns About His Health
"It is a very emotional time for him and he isn't showing it," the doctor told Fox News Digital after the speech. "He seems to lack conviction."
Dr. Robert Lufkin, a California-based physician and medical school professor at UCLA and USC, also weighed in on Biden. Lufkin noted that he has never examined Biden but offered his observations based on Wednesday's speech and recent media events.
Biden's Withdrawals Raise Concerns About His Health
In previous appearances, Biden has shown signs of "cognitive deterioration," the doctor told Fox News Digital. "The findings in his previous presentations could have a variety of causes, including sleep deprivation, sedation, metabolic abnormalities, or even neurodegenerative diseases."
Tonight's short presentation appeared to be read from a teleprompter, Lufkin agreed – "which is less demanding than the more spontaneous Q&A debate format of some of his previous events."
Biden's Withdrawals Raise Concerns About His Health
In previous appearances, such as the June 27 debate, Biden has shown "confused rambling, sudden loss of train of thought in the middle of a sentence, halting speech, and the repeated use of the word 'anyway' when lost in a sentence," Lufkin noted.
"Tonight, we did not see these in his presentation," he said. "His delivery was fairly uniform without interruptions."
Biden's Withdrawals Raise Concerns About His Health
The fact that these findings were less apparent tonight could be due to the speech format of the presentation and use of a teleprompter, according to Lufkin. "That format is much less challenging and less likely to uncover pathology than a more rigorous Q&A exchange or debate format," he went on.
He said he hoped that "continued interactions with Mr. Biden in various presentation formats will allow us to understand his situation in more detail."
Dr. Earnest Lee Murray, a board-certified neurologist at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee, said the speech from the Oval Office was "clearly better" for Biden than the debate but also noted that the president struggled at times with reading from the teleprompter. Murray has not treated or examined Biden.
"Reading simple passages do become difficult in patients with dementia," he told Fox News Digital, expressing a professional opinion in general about such cases.
"Patients with a dementing process have significant difficulties with multitasking," said Murray, again speaking generally. "President Biden seemed more rested and relaxed tonight," Murray said.
"I suspect the stress of trying to run for office and be president was leading to even worse daily cognitive performance," he also said.
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews/health In response to earlier outreach from Fox News Digital, the White House press office said that "health was not a factor" in the president's decision to withdraw from the 2024 race.
"He looks forward to finishing his term and delivering more historic results for the American people," the White House said in its statement.
