by Sharon Rondeau
(Jul. 8, 2024) — In an interview Monday with “The Story” host Martha MacCallum airing from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. ET, Johns Hopkins pancreatic surgeon Dr. Marty Makary, MD, MPH opined, in the wake of dozens of reporters’ questions voiced to White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Monday afternoon, that White House incumbent and 2024 presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden is suffering from “age-related dementia.”
He further told MacCallum that in his view, Biden’s symptoms warrant regular follow-up with a specialist and that the condition does not improve.
Since the June 27 debate with 45th President and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump, Biden at times had trouble expressing his thoughts, made inaccurate claims, and ended one of his answers with, “We beat Medicare,” leaving many asking what he meant.
Several U.S. Senators facing tight re-election contests in November, major donors and as many as 25 House Democrats have expressed concerns ranging from doubts about the viability of Biden’s candidacy to openly asking him to withdraw from the race, according to media reports.
In response to public calls from House Democrats for him to withdraw, on Monday Biden sent a letter to “Fellow Democrats” stating, “I want you to know that despite all the
speculation in the press and elsewhere, I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump.”
“…The voters of the Democratic Party have voted,” he continued. “They have chosen me to be the nominee of the party.”
In an interview Friday with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, Biden declined to say he was willing to take a cognitive test. “I have a cognitive test every single day,” he told Stephanopoulos, a former Democrat adviser and Clinton White House communications director. “Every day I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world,” Biden claimed.
As far as his willingness to consult “a specialist” or “neurologist,” Biden told Stephanopoulos, “No one said I had to. They said I’m good.”
According to the Mayo Clinic:
Dementia is a term used to describe a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities. In people who have dementia, the symptoms interfere with their daily lives. Dementia isn’t one specific disease. Several diseases can cause dementia.
Dementia generally involves memory loss. It’s often one of the early symptoms of the condition. But having memory loss alone doesn’t mean you have dementia. Memory loss can have different causes.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia in older adults, but there are other causes of dementia. Depending on the cause, some dementia symptoms might be reversible.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) describes “dementia” as “the loss of cognitive functioning — thinking, remembering, and reasoning — to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities. Some people with dementia cannot control their emotions, and their personalities may change.”