Medical experts are saying former President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis is “inconceivable.”
Biden’s diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer was revealed to the world on Sunday.
The Associated Press reported Biden, 82, was diagnosed on Friday following urinary tract symptoms and that the cancer has spread to his bone, based on a statement from the ex-president’s office.
On a scale used to measure prostate cancer called the Gleason score, Biden’s rates a 9 out of 10, meaning his is one of the most aggressive forms, according to the office’s statement.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” the statement said.
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
While the messages of goodwill for former President Biden rolled in, physicians have questioned whether everything is as it seems with the diagnosis.
“It is inconceivable that this was not being followed before he left the Presidency,” wrote Dr. Howie Forman, a professor at Yale.
Forman noted the test for prostate-specific antigen [PSA] would have shown Biden had cancer “for some time before this diagnosis.”
In early 2024, while Biden was the presumptive Democratic nominee for the presidency, he was deemed “fit to serve” by his physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, after a routine evaluation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Dr. Forman noted that Biden “must have had a PSA test numerous times before” and described the late-stage diagnosis as “odd.”
Forman also questioned whether Biden had been through screening in the last 12 years and if he “had a normal PSA prior to [age] 70?”
“It’s just so odd to discover this with bone [metastasis] in a man of his stature and [with his] access to care,” Forman added.
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel also seemed confused about how Biden’s diagnosis came about.
“This was found by physical examination by a prostate exam,’ Siegel said Sunday night.
“A lot of times, we find an elevation in prostate-specific antigen, PSA, and then we go after it.”
He said he tests all of his male patients over the age of 45 for the disease, and that if increased PSA is detected, an MRI scan is conducted and the possibility of a biopsy is considered.
In Biden’s case, it’s claimed doctors only performed a biopsy once he was experiencing urinary issues. Siegel said this is a sign that the cancer has already spread.
“I mean, he must have had the best possible care here,’ Siegel added, referring to the White House.
“I’m a little taken aback that it’s this far advanced.”
“It would be really surprising if they weren’t doing a very close screening on this because everybody knows in the medical community that this is the once cancer in men you really look out for.”
Urologist Dr. David Shusterman said it is “unheard of” for someone with Biden’s stage of cancer to not know about it beforehand.
“It’s very unlikely that someone could get annual checkups and not notice,” he said, especially someone who “had state-of-the-art care.”
“’It’s unusual to hear that someone has prostate cancer when they’re annually being followed up,” Shusterman said.
“The fact that we find it at a Gleason 9 is unheard of.”
Shusterman said he believes Biden had prostate cancer “for a long time,” probably several years.
Dr. Steven Quay agreed, declaring online that: “It is highly likely he was carrying a diagnosis of prostate cancer throughout his White House tenure and the American people were uninformed.”
Prostate cancer, he explained, is the “easiest… to diagnose when it first starts and to watch it progress to bone metastases.”
“Even with the most aggressive form,” he continued, “it is a five to seven year journey without treatment before it becomes metastatic.”
Quay said it would be “malpractice,” therefore, “for this patient to show up and first be diagnosed with metastatic disease in May 2025.”
Donald Trump Jr. shared Dr Quay’s comments on Twitter, and asked “What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another coverupp???”
Others suggested Biden’s White House doctor, Kevin O’Connor, should be investigated and “held accountable.”
Biden has been treated for cancer before. Before entering the White House, he had skin cancer spots removed by surgery, in 2023 he had a lesion removed from his chest.