President Barack Obama’s former doctor says his counterpart under President Joe Biden should have ordered a cognitive test for his boss in 2024 because of Mr. Biden’s age.
Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman’s criticism of Mr. Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, is a rare rebuke of another White House doctor. But it’s part of renewed debate about Mr. Biden’s level of fitness in his final months in office.
“Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest,” Dr. Kuhlman said in a Washington Post interview.
Dr. O’Connor released a summary of Mr. Biden’s annual checkup in February 2024 that said the president “continues to be fit for duty.”
Months later, Mr. Biden had a faltering debate performance against Donald Trump. As a result, Democrats ousted Mr. Biden from the presidential ticket four months before Mr. Trump won the election.
Dr. Kuhlman said the health checkup in 2024 should have extended beyond physical matters and included cognitive issues, given Mr. Biden’s age of 81 at the time.
“It shouldn’t be just health; it should be fitness,” Dr. Kuhlman said. “Fitness is: Do you have that robust mind, body, spirit that you can do this physically, mentally, emotionally demanding job?”
Mr. Biden was assessed by a neurologist for conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, but the debate around his mental competence has been revived by a recent book from journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.
The book describes Mr. Biden as often forgetful, tired and overreliant on aides.
Mr. Biden and his family say the book is off the mark.
“You can see that I’m mentally incompetent, and I can’t walk, and I can beat the hell out of both of them,” Mr. Biden said at a Memorial Day event this year, an apparent swipe at the book’s authors.
Dr. O’Connor didn’t respond to the Post’s requests for comment on Dr. Kuhlman’s criticism, but House Republicans want to hear from Mr. Biden’s doctor.
The House Oversight Committee has requested an interview with Dr. O’Connor as part of a wider probe into Mr. Biden’s mental fitness while in office.
