Scant, Confusing Info On Trump’s Prognosis Puts Doctors In Spotlight
Dr. Sean Conley, the president's physician, and the team of doctors treating President Donald Trump at Walter Reed Medical Center are in a tough spot, providing information on a president's health while protecting a patient's privacy.
The New York Times:
Instead Of Reassurance, Trump’s Doctor Delivers Confusion, Experts Say
Caring for any president presents a unique set of challenges. Like all doctors, Dr. Conley is bound by the Hippocratic oath to respect his patient’s wishes for privacy and to keep secret that which “ought not to be spoken of outside.” He is also a Navy officer caring for the commander in chief, whose orders he is obliged to follow. But all of that must be balanced against the public’s right to have information about the health of the leader of the free world. And this particular leader, Mr. Trump, is well known for not wanting to look weak.“I wouldn’t want to be in that position,” said Dr. Stephen Thomas, a retired Army doctor who is now the chief of infectious diseases at SUNY Upstate Medical University and a columnist for Forbes Magazine. “I have sympathy for the guy. Think of it. He may have to tell one of the most powerful people in the world, ‘No, you’re not doing that,’ or ‘That’s not a good idea.’” (Gay Stolberg, 10/4)
USA Today:
'Trying To Reflect The Upbeat Attitude': How Transparent Does The President's Doctor Need To Be?
A day after evading direct questions about President Donald Trump's medical treatment, Dr. Sean Conley said Sunday outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center he was "not necessarily" intending to mislead the public. Conley a Navy commander and the president's physician, said he was "trying to reflect the upbeat attitude that the team, the president, the course of his illness has had. (I) didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of the illness in another direction.” (Rivera and Weise, 10/4)
Stat:
A One-Page Memo Could Defuse The Panic About Trump’s Covid-19
The information that could ease American minds, quash conspiracy theories, and slow a rapacious 24/7 news cycle around President Trump’s case of Covid-19 could fit in a few paragraphs that would not fill a single page, several doctors tell STAT. So why, they wonder, has none of that information been included in a 15-minute press briefing and three short memos released by the president’s physicians? (Herper, 10/3)
ABC News:
Trump’s Doctors Grapple With Competing Demands – From The Public And An Image-Conscious Patient, Experts Said
The chief White House physician was facing heavy scrutiny over the weekend for obscuring aspects of President Donald Trump's health after he was diagnosed with COVID-19, focusing attention on the vexing challenge he faces navigating the demands of an anxious nation and a commander-in-chief who favors rosy assessments. "When you're in a complicated situation like this, you can only go so far," said Dr. Benjamin Aaron, the chest surgeon who in 1981 removed the bullet from President Ronald Reagan, and said he and his colleagues "felt a sense of duty to level with the American people." (Bruggeman and Pezenik, 10/4)
The Washington Post:
White House Physician Sean Conley Draws Scrutiny For Rosy Assessments Of Trump’s Health
This spring, Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley confided to co-workers that he was laboring under intense personal stress in his job as White House physician. The 40-year-old doctor is responsible for the world’s most high-profile patient: a president who has insisted on holding public events amid a global pandemic and rarely donned a mask, overriding the advice of his own health officials. Without sharing details, the White House’s top medical officer said the pressures of the job were weighing on him, according to two people familiar with his remarks. (Leonnig and O'Harrow Jr., 10/4)
NPR:
Who Is Sean Conley? White House Physician To President Trump
Since President Trump's announcement of a positive coronavirus test early Friday, a previously little-known White House physician is now an integral source of information on the president's condition. Sean Conley, a Navy commander, has been Trump's physician since 2018. It was a memo from Conley that confirmed Trump's tweet that he and the first lady tested positive for the coronavirus. (Slotkin, 10/3)
Fox News:
Spotlight On Walter Reed Medical Center Brings Back Powerful Memories For US Wounded Warriors
In the critical days since President Trump announced that he and the first lady had been infected with the novel coronavirus, the eyes of the world have been fixed on one place: a sprawling parcel of manicured green lawns and matchbox-like ivory dwellings known as the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. (McKay, 10/5)
Also —
CNN:
President Trump Furious At Chief Of Staff For Contradicting White House Physician, Sources Say
President Donald Trump is furious with chief of staff Mark Meadows after the top West Wing official contradicted the White House physician's assessment Saturday of the President's health, two sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN on Sunday. Meadows is now widely known inside the White House to be the unnamed source who spoke to reporters following the medical briefing Saturday and offered a more dire assessment than Navy Cmdr. Dr. Sean Conley had given shortly before. That reporting was initially given to a pool of reporters attributed to an official familiar with the President's condition. Later, the Associated Press and the New York Times identified that official as Meadows. (Acosta, 10/4)
