On Sunday, Joe Biden’s office announced that the former president has been diagnosed with “an aggressive form of prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.”
The statement said doctors made the diagnosis on Friday after finding a small nodule on Biden’s prostate. Prior to the discovery, the former president had apparently complained of urinary symptoms. The statement noted that “while this represents a more aggressive form of the disease,” the cancer “appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”
That is what Biden’s office has disclosed, but the timing of the announcement – the day after the audio of his infamous interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur was leaked and two days before the release of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s exposé about his decline – is raising serious questions.
Chief among them: How could President Biden, who left office at the age of 82, not have been previously screened for prostate cancer?
Many experts, including oncologist Ezekiel Emanuel, MD – brother of prominent Democrat Rahm Emanuel and the so-called “architect” of Obamacare – have publicly refuted the idea that the cancer was only just discovered. “Very few people get diagnosed this advanced… He did not develop it in the last 100, 200 days,” he said on Morning Joe Monday. “He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency.”
Also questioning the timing and details of the statement is renowned urologist and prostate cancer surgeon David Samadi, MD. He joined Megyn on Monday’s show to discuss Biden’s diagnosis and why he believes it is either medical malpractice or a lie that the former president did not know he had cancer.
The Diagnosis
Contrary to the details released by the Biden team, Dr. Samadi said it is not likely that this metastatic prostate cancer was only just discovered. “The fact is that he probably has had this for many years,” he said. “We know that about a year ago, his physicians basically gave him the clear bill of health… and, typically, this kind of prostate cancer – stage 4 prostate cancer – doesn’t show up within one year.”
As Dr. Samadi explained, standard screening protocols are designed to detect prostate cancer in earlier stages. “Typically, if you look at the past 10 to 15 years of his PSA [prostate-specific antigen], they gradually climb up. Even though the PSA is not always the most specific test, you will see a rise,” he said. “There would be some symptoms when it comes to these aggressive prostate cancers. Typically, prostate cancer is asymptomatic, but they would have some vague symptoms of urinary issues, getting up in the middle of the night, sometimes even blood in the semen, etc.”
This is true of the majority of patients – never mind the one-time president and vice president of the United States. “I have had multiple presidents in my practice that I have taken care of, and it’s not always one doctor. There are multiple doctors. They go through very aggressive screening – PSA, digital rectal exams,” he shared. “Yes, if you are in third-world countries where there are no PSA screenings… that is a different story. But in America, with our healthcare system, given his position, it is practically almost impossible to see someone show up with stage 4, Gleason 9 metastases to bone within a year.”
“That is unheard of, and I certainly, in 25 years of my career, have never seen it… It takes about five to seven years for the cancer to metastasize to bone,” Dr. Samadi added. “I think there are more questions than answers given what we see today with the type of cancer that he has.”
The Prognosis
At this stage, Dr. Samadi said there is no cure for Biden’s cancer and limited treatment options remain. “If I would have met him about 10 years ago when this cancer was just localized within the prostate… with our technology of robotic surgery, we could have saved his life with the possibility of radiation afterwards if he needed it,” he explained. “Now that the cancer has spread to the bone, the prognosis is poor.”
“The only treatment that is effective right now is not surgery, it is not radiation, it is hormonal treatment – or medical castration – where it can reduce his testosterone to a very low level in order to slow down these cells from growing further,” Dr. Samadi continued. “So, we can slow down the progression, but there is no cure at this point.”
‘Major Malpractice’ or Lie?
If the cancer was truly missed, Dr. Samadi said it amounts to “major, major malpractice.” But he thinks the more likely scenario is that the diagnosis was kept under wraps, and he spotted a potential tell in the official statement.
Biden’s office explicitly stated that the cancer “appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.” Dr. Samadi is not sure how they would already know that if the diagnosis truly came on Friday. “I don’t know how they will be able to give all of this information – from diagnosis to treatment to all of that – within one week,” he noted. “This story doesn’t make any sense.”
“If it was just a week ago they had the prostate nodule, within a week they did the biopsy and they got the disease… based on the story that they are telling, they have been able to do the staging part and find out if the cancer is spread to the bone or not,” Dr. Samadi explained. “But you have to give the [hormone] injections and see if the patient responds. We don’t know what his PSA is. If the PSA starts to go down, then that is when you know that he is hormone-sensitive.”
That is why Dr. Samadi believes the more likely scenario is that Biden has been aware of the cancer for years. “It is possible that maybe 10 or 12 years ago he was diagnosed with a Gleason 6 or Gleason 7. These are low-risk to moderate-risk prostate cancers. Many doctors may say… we are going to monitor you,” he shared. “That is for the public, not for the president of United States, not for someone that every time he moves there is a doctor available. They check his cholesterol, his mental health, his cardiac issues from top to bottom.”
“So, to just wake up and say, ‘Oh my God, we have a Gleason 9 with metastases,'” he asked. “To me, as someone who has been in the field for 25 years and has dealt with a lot of these aggressive prostate cancers, this story doesn’t make any sense.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Dr. Samadi by tuning in to episode 1,074 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.