Biden remains 'healthy, vigorous,' doctor says after physical exam

Source: Washington Post

President Biden remains “a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male who is fit to successfully execute duties of the presidency,” his physician wrote in a memo released hours after the president underwent a routine annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Thursday morning.

Kevin O’Connor — who has been Biden’s primary care doctor since 2009 — wrote that the most notable update from Biden’s last physical in November 2021 was his covid-19 infection over the summer, but said the president has not experienced any lingering symptoms that could be characterized as “long covid.”

As part of the physical, Biden underwent routine skin cancer surveillance. O’Connor said one “small lesion” on the president’s chest was excised on Thursday and sent for traditional biopsy and that the results are pending. O’Connor noted that Biden spent a “good deal of time” in the sun when he was young and that he had several non-melanoma skin cancers removed before assuming the presidency.

Biden, who at age 80 is the first octogenarian president in American history, has faced repeated questions about his physical and mental fitness — inquiries that have intensified as he prepares for an expected reelection bid. He would be 82 at the start of a second term, and 86 at the end of eight years in the White House.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/02/16/biden-physical-exam/