CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta said on “The Newsroom” on Friday that President Joe Biden should undergo cognitive testing following his debate performance.
“Some of the signs that people observed during the debate – slow speech, pauses in speech and sometimes speaking in a confused tone – can be explained by a number of different things and cannot be diagnosed on observation alone. But that’s why, if he was my patient, and frankly, if you were my father, I might want to get him checked out further because there might be something that can be done,” Gupta said.
Regarding Biden’s previous medical exams, Gupta said, “We are aware that they did not include the cognitive testing that we were asking for. We asked the White House about that and they said the doctors said no cognitive testing was necessary.”
He added, “As is common with presidential medical examinations, it appears to have been quite thorough. Around 20 specialists were involved, including neurologists. And in addition to basic information about the President’s physical health, we were told that there were no signs of stroke, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease, which is noteworthy. But one thing I can say is that while Parkinson’s disease is the most common cause of Parkinsonism, it is not the only cause. And there was no mention at all of ruling out other possible causes that could be causing Parkinson’s. So this relates to why we are doing more in-depth cognitive testing, not just tests for movement disorders and the like.”
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