By Oyintari Ben
US President Joe Biden, 80, underwent a keenly awaited physical examination on Thursday morning before he is expected to announce that he is running for a second four-year term.
Since taking oath of office in January 2021, Biden has undergone two thorough physical examinations at Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Maryland. Biden checked into the hospital for a three-hour examination.
Details of the examination’s results were anticipated to be made public by the White House later on Thursday.
His doctors described the president as a “healthy, active, 78-year-old guy” at the time of his most recent physical and colonoscopy in November 2021. According to their six-page memo, he had a polyp from his intestines removed, and his contact lens prescription changed.
Biden, the oldest president of the United States, has shrugged off inquiries about his age. Polls show that respondents are worried about Biden’s capacity to serve four more years if he wins in 2024, even if his re-election campaign is anticipated to begin soon.
According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from February 6–13, more than seven in ten Americans, including more than half of Democrats and the vast majority of Republicans, believe Biden is too elderly to hold public office. The majority of Democratic respondents claimed that the president is still cognitively sharp. However, roughly half of them claimed that he cannot bear the job’s physical demands.
According to data from the 2020 U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Biden would be 86 by the conclusion of a potential second term, which would put him 13 years past the typical life expectancy for a male in the United States.
Borna Bonakdarpour, an associate professor of neurology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said Biden’s doctors would likely perform a neurological assessment on him on Thursday, as is typical for persons his age who are more prone to falling.
In addition, they might examine Biden’s eyes, hearing, and “whatever else he may complain about,” Bonakdarpour said.
