Former President Joe Biden Moonshot Program Never Happen© Alex Brandon/Associated Press
Joe Biden Had Unrivaled Medical Care.
How was Joe Biden’s cancer not caught earlier?
How Did His Cancer Go Undetected?
Story by Brianna Abbott, Annie Linskey
The news that the former president is battling an aggressive, stage-4 prostate cancer that has spread to the bone ignited a public debate about why a person with peerless access to medical care was diagnosed at such an advanced stage with a disease that is quite common in men his age.
Many prostate cancers in the U.S. are detected with a blood test that measures prostate-specific antigen, or PSA. The test is cheap and can help find potential cancer before symptoms appear. There are some particularly aggressive prostate cancers that don’t secrete enough PSA to be flagged on the test. But those are rare, doctors said.
Whether Biden, 82, had been getting regular PSA screening before his diagnosis isn’t publicly known, and prostate cancer screening for men in their 80s isn’t considered standard care. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government-backed volunteer panel of experts that makes preventive health recommendations, advises against PSA screening for men ages 70 and above, based on concerns about false positives and overtreating low-risk forms of the disease. Other groups advise older men to make the decision about whether to continue screening in consultation with their doctors.
“It’s in many ways unsettling that someone who has what is undoubtedly fantastic medical care could suddenly be diagnosed with aggressive, metastatic prostate cancer,” said Dr. Todd Morgan, co-director of the Weiser Center for Prostate Cancer at Michigan Medicine. “On the other hand, this is often how prostate cancer presents. We typically don’t do PSA screening beyond 75 or late 70s.”
Biden, however, wasn’t a typical patient.
As the oldest president in U.S. history to seek re-election, his health was under considerable scrutiny by voters. His eldest son died of brain cancer at age 46, prompting Biden, then vice president, to launch his “cancer moonshot” initiative to accelerate the fight against the disease. His poor performance in last year’s presidential debate forced him out of the 2024 race, and new attention on his acuity while in office is amplifying concerns that his aides concealed his decline.
Donald Trump—the second oldest president at age 78—does get screened. He released the results of his prostate cancer screening last month, showing a normal score. Barack Obama released his PSA score when he was president, as did George W. Bush.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday evening, Trump said he is “very sad” to hear about Biden’s diagnosis and raised questions about why it wasn’t discovered earlier. “Someone is going to have to speak to his doctor,” Trump said. “I feel badly about it, and I think people should try and find out what happened.”
Biden’s prostate cancer may have gone undiagnosed for years based on severity, doctors say The Republican-led House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is currently probing whether top White House officials concealed negative information about Biden’s decline. The probe began last Congress and included a request for an interview with Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician as president, and testimony from former Biden aides—but those asks would need to be renewed.
President Biden speaking at an event last year promoting an initiative aimed at reducing cancer deaths.© Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
Chris Meagher, a spokesman for Biden, didn’t respond to questions about whether Biden was screened for prostate cancer as president. O’Connor didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Biden’s cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive and could therefore be receptive to hormone-reducing drugs, and cancer doctors have said that even patients with metastatic disease can live for years, thanks to newer therapies. But the disease probably isn’t curable at this stage, and Biden will likely be grappling with it for the rest of his life.
Around 10% of prostate cancers are already metastatic by the time they are diagnosed, prostate cancer specialists said. Symptoms including difficulty urinating or blood in the urine often don’t appear until the disease is advanced. Biden’s prostate cancer is one of the most aggressive kinds, implying that it is relatively fast-spreading, though it could have gone undetected for years, specialists said.
“It’s possible that he could have had it growing in him for years, or it could be possible that this had a shorter time course,” said Dr. Phillip Koo, chief medical officer at the Prostate Cancer Foundation. “If someone were to get PSA screening annually after age 70, I’d imagine something like this would have been picked up earlier.”
Doctors have debated for decades how often to screen men for prostate cancer, and when to stop. The test can pick up cancers early while they are more treatable, but it can also flag false positives and pick up slow-growing cancers that would never have become life-threatening, particularly in older men, leading to overtreatment and corresponding harms.
“In the majority of cases, our guidelines really maximize their quality of life and reduce the harms associated with overdetection and aggressive screening,” said Dr. Behfar Ehdaie, a urologic surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which says on its website that PSA testing after age 75 is “rarely helpful.”
Many men stop screening at age 75 because doctors think men with a low or normal PSA value at that age have a low risk of developing life-threatening prostate cancer, said Dr. Jonathan Shoag, a urologist who specializes in oncology at University Hospitals and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
But the number of later-stage, life-threatening diagnoses in the U.S. has increased in recent years, after medical groups started to advise less screening overall, Shoag and others said.
There is no public battery of medical tests required for all presidents and no standard release forms showing results. O’Connor said in February 2024 that Biden was “fit for duty” after a comprehensive assessment by a team of doctors.
“I would say it’s surprising he did not get this test, given the fact that the proclivity of presidential physicians is to test more rather than less,” said Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a physician and vice provost for global initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania, speaking Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“Either they didn’t test for it, or they did test for it, they didn’t report it, and we didn’t get the information as a public,” said Emanuel, a former White House health adviser.
Trump has at times failed to be transparent about his health.
But he made a point of bragging about his prostate screening results when he was running for president. “My PSA has been very good,” Trump said in a September 2016 interview with Mehmet Oz, who is now his Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator. “It’s always the first number I ask for. I say, ‘Give me that number.’” Trump was 70 years old at the time and a candidate for president.
Write to Brianna Abbott at brianna.abbott@wsj.com and Annie Linskey at annie.linskey@wsj.com
As president, he should have had every test possible, especially cancer screenings, regardless of his age.
Why did this not happen, or did it and they LIED about that too? Too many excuses for the old man. If the rest of the world could see it in what few times he was allowed in front of cameras, his family HAD to know. I find that his family showed no concerns for his decline to be the most despicable of all.
There are two possibilities, both of which are pretty bad.
One is they knew he had it but lied about this condition to the public the entire time. The other is that it was missed. Both are pretty bad if you think about it. I disagreed with Biden but prayed he could recover. It’s a horrible cancer. I fear cancer a lot personally.
There is only ONE possibility.
Doctors usually do not recommend PSA testing for senior men. But We are talking about the President of the United States. They do extremely detailed screenings. He gets care beyond a normal citizen. It still looks pretty bad.
As POTUS he had access to stellar medical care.
BS that him hiding his ENTIRE medical condition for his ENTIRE presidency being unwarranted is crap. Their cover up is known as gaslighting the American people. The Biden family, his handlers and senior members of the Democratic Party are culpable 100%. To believe anything else is an arrogant, self indulgent fantasy of failing to be held accountable … it’ called political Münchausen syndrome.
Political Munchausen syndrome is not a recognized term. However, Munchausen syndrome, also known as factitious disorder imposed on self, is a mental health disorder where individuals falsify or exaggerate having symptoms of an illness they don’t really have12345.
| Factitious disorder imposed on self | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Munchausen syndrome[1] |
| Specialty | Psychology, psychiatry |
Factitious disorder imposed on self (FDIS), sometimes referred to as Munchausen syndrome, is a complex mental disorder where individuals play the role of a sick patient to receive some form of psychological validation, such as attention, sympathy, or physical care.[2] Patients with FDIS intentionally falsify or induce signs and symptoms of illness, trauma, or abuse to assume this role.[3]
These actions are performed consciously, though the patient may be unaware of the motivations driving their behaviors. There are several risk factors and signs associated with this illness and treatment is usually in the form of psychotherapy but may depend on the specific situation,[4] which is further discussed in the sections below. Diagnosis is usually determined by meeting specific DSM-5 criteria after ruling out true illness as described below. 5
Factitious disorder imposed on self is related to factitious disorder imposed on another, which refers to the abuse of another person in order to seek attention or sympathy for the abuser. This is considered “Munchausen by proxy”, and the drive to create symptoms for the victim can result in unnecessary and costly diagnostic or corrective procedures.[3] Other similar and often confused syndromes/diagnoses are discussed in the “Related Diagnoses” section.
Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis May Have Just EXPOSED Democrats
It likely didn’t go undiagnosed — more like UNDISCLOSED. Biden has A-fib, advanced stage dementia, Parkinson’s and now they have DISCLOSED he has prostate CA with metastases to bone. At his age and advanced stage of dementia (as well as Parkinson’s, A-fib) they are nuts to give him anything but palliative care and/or hospice. Cruel to treat the CA at this time. My brother was more than 10 years younger than Biden’s current age and in very good health when he was diagnosed with prostate CA.
Look at meds commonly used for prostate cancer… look at the side effects, some are permanent. Now look at Biden’s behavior over the 4 years. Quite certain he was diagnosed and treated but was withheld. In the 2022 video Biden admitted he had cancer clearly shows that Biden audibly said he HAS cancer. Bing Videos Still not right under any circumstance how this was handled.
He was treated with radiation which caused a LOT of problems with ureters, bladder. His problems from the treatment were worse than the CA. He became incontinent, has hot flashes and constant UTIs and blockages of ureters, damage to bladder. And my brother does not have dementia. Give him his pity party and let him live out his days as comfortable as possible.
T N Cancer can be dormant for years.
No test will pick it up until the cancer grows. I know, I am a cancer survivor. Mine grew very quickly from the time it was discovered, until the surgeon removed the tumor four weeks later. Cancer is not an exact disease. Some people can live for years without surgery, chemo or radiation. Others die within weeks of being diagnosed.
The PSA test is usually done every one to two years for men who want to be screened for prostate cancer, beginning at age 50. Most men should get a PSA blood test every 1 to 2 years, depending on their age, PSA levels, and risk factors. General guidelines recommend starting PSA screenings at age 55, but you may need one earlier based on different factors. Until you’ve reached age 70, then it is no longer recommended.
Go to the web and do the W 3x in front of this and see for yourselves. health harvard edu mens-health prostate-specific-antigen-blood-test-psa-test-a-to-z – Search
A PSA is a yearly blood test that screens for prostate carcinoma. No symptoms are needed to order the test. They LIED, plain and simple. Remember when his physician gave him a “clean bill of health” before the last election? I GUARANTEE the cancer was there and was either missed, or more likely, deliberately ignored. I’m board certified in Internal Medicine and have been in practice for over 30 years. IF his physician missed this, they should be fired for incompetence. I KNOW physicians employed at that level are NOT incompetent. The only logical conclusion is that they lied. They lied about his dementia, the border, everything else,
First, it’s a blood test. Second, it’s not recommended for men over 70: The USPSTF recommends against routine PSA screening for men 70 years and older due to the risks of false positives and overdiagnosis of indolent disease123. Recommendation: Prostate Cancer: Screening | United States Preventive Services Taskforce “This is because the potential benefits of treatment are considered minimal, and the potential harms of treatment (like impotence or incontinence) may outweigh the benefits. “
It didn’t go undetected. I agree with HIPAA protections, but am not a fan of how the Biden family gas lit the American people. If they knew that his condition could jeopardize- even remotely- his ability to carry on as POTUS, they are copiously responsible. Just another box to check when it comes to the Democrats proving they have put the party over America.
If a person reads the article some blood tests do not secrete enough PSA to register as troublesome. Biden started to have urinary problems, so the Doctors probably opted for the more invasive test. This means taking biopsy samples of the prostate usually through the anus. That invasive test is usually not done routinely unless there are more reasons to do it. People have a right to privacy in their medical decisions, however, not as POTUS who serves the American People.
Bob Uecker – Mr. Baseball | Carson Tonight Show
Bob Uecker’s Baseball Hall of Fame Speech: ‘Baseball was the only way I wanted to go’ ⚾️ Watch as iconic Milwaukee Brewers broadcaster the late Bob Uecker accepts the Ford C. Frick Award from the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 2003.