A neurologist and Parkinson’s disease specialist has made nearly a dozen visits to the White House Medical Unit, visitor logs show, raising new questions about President Biden’s fitness for office as he battles efforts to push him off the 2024 ballot.
Dr. Kevin R. Cannard, a Bethesda neurologist and movement disorder specialist affiliated with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, visited the office of the White House Medical Unit 10 times dating back to November 2022, the visitor logs show.
The logs, last updated on July 1, show Dr. Cannard visited the White House most recently on March 28.
Dr. Cannard met mostly with Megan Nasworthy, a medical liaison between the White House and Walter Reed. This past Jan. 17, he met with Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the White House physician who treats Dr. Biden.
Dr. Cannard’s first White House visit, on Nov. 15, 2022, involved a meeting with Dr. Joshua Simmons, an emergency medicine specialist associated with Walter Reed and the William Beaumont Army Medical Center.
The purposes of Dr. Cannard’s visits are not disclosed in the logs and it is not known whether the visits were at all related to the president’s health. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday refused to confirm his visits, stonewalling that led to bitter shouting in the press briefing room.
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Ms. Jean-Pierre suggested there are “thousands” of military people who could receive medical care through the White House medical unit, though she said privacy precluded her from confirming who saw who, including Mr. Biden.
“I am not going to confirm a name,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “That is not something I am going to do.”
Ms. Jean-Pierre said a neurologist did not find any problems with the president, and Mr. Biden is not being treated for Parkinson’s or taking medication for the condition.
But pressed again on Dr. Cannard, Ms. Jean-Pierre said “I’m not going to confirm any specialist that comes to the White House out of privacy.”
She said Mr. Biden has had three physicals while president and saw a neurologist each time.
“Every year that he has had this exam he sees a neurologist,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said. “That’s three times, right? So I am telling you that he has seen a neurologist three times while he has been in this presidency.”
A White House spokesman told the New York Post, “A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds.”
Mr. Biden denies having Parkinson’s or any neurological disease, and said he is fit to serve as president and to run for another four-year term.
He’s battling to stay on the 2024 ticket amid a growing list of Democratic leaders who want him to step aside after public appearances that regularly show him having difficulty speaking clearly and remembering words or looking lost and frail.
Mr. Biden said he will not take a cognitive test to prove his fitness for office and is “completely ruling out” withdrawing from the ticket.
It’s not clear whether he was ever treated by Dr. Cannard, but the physician’s training appears aligned with what some neurologists who have merely observed the president at a distance say appears to be a form of Parkinson’s and associated dementia.
Dr. Cannard’s professional resume describes him as a movement disorder specialist at Walter Reed and as “a neurology specialist,” and consultant to the White House Medical Unit.
Movement disorder treatment is described as “advanced care” that can involve treatments such as Botox injections into specific muscles to relieve muscle spasms or excess saliva production.
A movement disorder specialist is also trained to partner with a neurosurgeon to determine the best location in the brain for a possible deep brain stimulation procedure. Such specialists are also trained to identify non-motor symptoms, such as “lightheadedness, skin changes, constipation and urinary problems, memory loss, hallucinations, depression, and anxiety,” according to Duke Health.
Dr. O’Connor, the White House physician, said he “assembled a team” of medical specialists, including “movement disorder neurologic specialists to carefully examine and assess the president” during his Feb. 28, 2024 physical exam.
The team concluded “that much of his stiffness is in fact a result of degenerative osteoarthritic changes of his spine.”
Dr. O’Connor said he conducted “an extremely detailed neurologic exam” that found no evidence consistent with “cerebellar or other central neurological disorders such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s.”
• Tom Howell Jr. contributed to this report.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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