CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta claimed that doctors who spoke to him about their take on last week’s presidential debate “pretty unanimously” believe Joe Biden needs more testing.
“I actually watched the debate from overseas, and, it was interesting, I got so many texts and emails and phone calls from other neurospecialists, from the States and all over the world. A lot of people, Paula, had an opinion on this, and these were medical opinions, opinions, I want to be clear,” Gupta said Friday on CNN International’s “First Move.”
“Nobody is saying there’s anything diagnostic or certain at all, but a lot of people paid attention to that debate. And while I think what they saw wasn’t necessarily new, … I think the idea that it was so pronounced and so sustained over the 90 minutes, I think, was what really got people’s attention. The halting speech, sometimes, the confused rambling, Paula, but also, other things as well, such as reduced volume of speech, that can be something that is important from a neurological perspective.”
“And also, the loss of facial expression, sometimes associated with certain movement disorders, that can also have an impact on cognition,” he continued. “Again, nobody is saying that these things, in and of themselves, are diagnostic of anything.”
“But I think that the message, pretty unanimously, was, it would be recommended by everyone to get more testing to sort of figure out, are we looking at something that is episodic, these little episodes, or is it reflective of something that is deeper, a condition of some sort that could be diagnosed and potentially even treated?” Gupta asked.
Biden has stated that he will remain in the race despite widespread concerns among his party over his declining cognitive and physical acuity, prompting Democrat lawmakers to book meetings this week to discuss his path forward as their presidential candidate.