Parkinson’s expert visited White House 8 times in 8 months, met with Biden’s doctor
Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on July 8, 2024
An expert on Parkinson’s disease visited the White House eight times over an eight-month span between last July and March of this year, including one visit with the president’s personal physician, according to the White House visitor logs.
The doctor, Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist and “movement disorders specialist” who works at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. According to the logs, prior to July of 2023 he had only visited the White House once in November of 2022.
The White House will not confirm if he was advising on the president’s personal care, saying only in a statement “a wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds.”
As part of his annual physical exam, the president was evaluated by a neurologist who found no signs of Parkinson’s, according to the summary released in February.
“An extremely detailed neurologic exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy,” the report states.
Overall, the February report stated Biden, 81, continued to be “fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.”
The president has been adamant that his doctors have not recommended any cognitive testing, insisting in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he passes a cognitive test every day.
“Every day I have that test,” Biden said. “Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Not — and that’s not hi– sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world.”
Stephanopoulos pressed Biden repeatedly if he would be willing to take a cognitive test and release the results publicly, but Biden declined to commit to such a course of action.
“Watch me between — there’s a lotta time left in this campaign,” the president said.
The New York Times first reported the number of Cannard’s visits.
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