President Biden’s halting debate performance on June 27 has sparked speculation that he may be suffering from symptoms of a degenerative neurological disorder like Parkinson’s. But the White House denies that Biden is being treated for Parkinson’s, or that he has been examined by a neurologist beyond his last routine physical.
Some of that speculation has centered on White House visitor logs that show a neurologist from Walter Reed Medical Center visiting the President’s personal medical unit at the White House multiple times at the end of 2023 and early 2024.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]Dr. Kevin Cannard, an expert on treating movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, met with President Biden’s personal physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor in the White House on Jan. 17 at 5 p.m., according to visitor logs. The meeting also included Dr. John E. Atwood, a Walter Reed cardiologist, according to the records. The White House logs show Dr. Cannard also visited the residence clinic on March 28, and made six other visits over the previous several months. The entries in the logs were first reported by The New York Post.
It is unclear if Dr. Cannard has visited the White House in recent weeks. The White House visitor logs, which the administration posts voluntarily on the White House website, show visitors through March. More recent logs have not yet been posted.
Cannard has been a part of the broader White House medical team of doctors since 2012, according to his LinkedIn profile. The White House did not explain why Cannard had made near monthly visits to the White House during that time.
“A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat the thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds,” said White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates in a statement.
Bates said that Biden is not being treated for Parkinsons and has not been seen by a neurologist outside of his three routine annual physical examinations when, like other Presidents, he was examined by a panel of doctors with different specialities. Bates also said that no examination has found that Biden shows symptoms of Parkinsons. “We do not provide the dates on which the President is seen by the range of specialists who participate in his physical, nor their names. But there have been no neurologist visits besides the one for his physical,” Bates said.
