President Joe Biden has not received a routine prostate cancer screening since 2014, according to a spokesperson from his office.
President Joe Biden last underwent a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) blood test in 2014.
According to a statement released by his office on Tuesday, he was serving as vice president under Barack Obama at the time.
This revelation comes after the recent announcement that President Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
The news has left many within Biden’s circle stunned, especially given the severity of the diagnosis.
According to officials, the cancer has already metastasized to his bones.
Some close to the former president questioned how the disease could have progressed so far without detection.
The White House doctor skipped the PSA in the recent physical
Notably, Biden’s most recent physical exam, conducted in February 2024 by White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, did not include a PSA test.
O’Connor, a trusted confidant of the Biden family, made no mention of the screening in his publicly released report.
A senior aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained, suggesting that the test may have been skipped intentionally.
“I think the likely scenario, knowing Kevin O’Connor pretty well, is that they had a discussion on what a PSA test is, and they decided not to do one because it would likely be elevated and cause a story, since a lot of older men have high PSAs that are false positives,” a long-serving aide to Biden mused Monday.
Optics may have influenced medical decisions
The same aide hinted at political motivations influencing medical decisions.
“A blood test has a paper trail. They probably just didn’t do the test. I think it would leak if he had a PSA test they tried to bury.”
Ironically, this strategy, meant to avoid public scrutiny, may have had tragic consequences.
“What’s ironic,” this person added, “is that if they didn’t give the president a PSA test because of the potential for optics of a possible false positive, that decision is ultimately going to lead to his death because they could have caught it earlier.”
Insiders doubt the secret diagnosis theory
In response to swirling rumors that the president may have known about his condition earlier, a former Biden White House staffer pushed back.
“There’s no way he was secretly treating prostate cancer. People talk. Staff would know. And frankly, Dr. O’Connor isn’t exactly the quiet type,” the former aide remarked.
“Yes, he’s a doctor, but he’s always chatting.”
The skepticism is rooted in the open nature of the White House environment and the tendency for news to leak quickly, particularly something as significant as a cancer diagnosis.
Medical guidelines oppose screening after age 70
Biden turned 70 in 2012, and experts say routine prostate cancer screening isn’t recommended for men older than 70.
Their guidelines emphasize the limited benefits of screening for older men, who are statistically more likely to die of other causes.
“Men aged 70 and older face greater harms from screening, such as unnecessary biopsies, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment,” the AAFP warns.
As such, the lack of testing may have aligned with prevailing medical advice, despite today’s scrutiny.
Expert believes cancer preceded the presidency
Oncologist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a key Affordable Care Act architect, discussed Biden’s condition in an interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”.
Emanuel stated that Biden likely had the cancer for many years and possibly even before taking office in 2021.
“He did not develop it in the last 100 to 200 days,” Emanuel added. “He had it while he was president. And he probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021.”