The announcement Sunday that former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer has some people wondering how the disease wasn’t spotted sooner.
As president, Biden had access to VIP care, which goes above and beyond the health testing and health care offered to average patients. Members of the White House compound have access to medical staff 24 hours a day through the White House Medical Unit and special facilities are set aside for them at military hospitals. Presidential physicals typically leave no stone unturned when it comes to physical health and fitness for office, and presidents, including Biden, typically share some information from their medical checkups.
So how could an 82-year-old president who’s been out of office for only a few months have stage IV cancer that has spread to his bones?
Experts say they understand that the circumstances might prompt fear and suspicion, but they’re also not unheard-of. And although many men are familiar with what prostate cancer screening entails, some might not realize that typical screening is no longer recommended once men reach Biden’s age.
Dr. Oliver Sartor, a prostate cancer researcher at Tulane University, said he’s already fielded calls about Biden’s diagnosis.
“I’ve already been contacted by a friend of mine. He said, ‘How could this possibly have happened? And it must have been a cover-up,’ ” Sartor said, “And I said, ‘No, no, no, not necessarily. There are variety of possibilities.’ ”
Biden’s health in office has been the subject of intense interest.
A new book written by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson describes how the president had been showing signs of decline that aides ignored or explained away, even before the halting CNN debate that led to his decision to exit the 2024 election three weeks later.
Doctors reached by CNN this week said prostate cancer is not generally linked to issues with cognition.
Biden has kept a low profile since leaving office but recently appeared on “The View” with his wife, Jill, to push back on assertions that his declining health was being hidden from the public.
“They are wrong,” Biden said. “There is nothing to sustain that.”
The former first lady added, “The people who wrote those books weren’t in the White House with us, and they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day. He’d get up, he’d put in a full day, and then at night, I’d be in bed reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings, working with staff.”
Screening for prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is a significant health concern for men. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in American males, killing about 35,000 each year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Among recent presidents, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump have had prostate cancer screening results reported as part of their annual physicals. Biden’s medical reports during his presidency did not mention prostate cancer testing.
President Trump said Monday that he was surprised that “the public wasn’t notified a long time ago” about Biden’s diagnosis.
“I just had my physical. You saw that? You saw the results of that particular test. I think the test is pretty much standard to anybody getting a physical,” Trump said during a news briefing.
Prostate cancer specialists say that’s not necessarily the case, however.
