Joe Biden’s clean health reports, issued during his presidency, hid a ticking time bomb. The former president, declared fit as a fiddle in 2021, 2023, and 2024, was blindsided by a May 2025 diagnosis of aggressive prostate cancer with bone metastasis, as Fox News reports. This revelation raises eyebrows about the thoroughness of those glowing White House checkups.
From 2021 to 2024, Biden’s annual physicals painted a rosy picture, but a Gleason score of 9 prostate cancer, diagnosed on May 18, tells a different story. The cancer, hormone-sensitive but already spread to the bone, slipped through routine screenings. Now, Biden and his family are scrambling to map out treatment options.
Back in November 2021, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s longtime physician, called him a “healthy, vigorous” 78-year-old, fit to lead. Routine tests for heart, eyes, teeth, and colon cancer showed no red flags. Yet, no mention of prostate issues surfaced, despite Biden’s history of health scares like two brain aneurysms in 1988.
Biden’s 2021 exam noted throat clearing and a stiff gait, pinned on reflux and spinal wear. Non-melanoma skin cancers, linked to youthful sun exposure, were removed pre-presidency, with no new concerns in 2021. O’Connor’s optimism seemed airtight, but the prostate cancer bombshell suggests gaps in scrutiny.
The 2023 physical, delayed 15 months due to Biden’s travel, echoed the 2021 findings. A small chest lesion, removed and confirmed as basal cell carcinoma, was the only hiccup, requiring no further action.
“All cancerous tissue was successfully removed,” O’Connor wrote in 2023 about the lesion. That confidence now feels hollow, as the aggressive prostate cancer went undetected. Routine screenings missed what Biden’s team later called a “new finding” in 2025.
By February 2024, Biden, now 81, was still “robust” per O’Connor’s report. His heart, lungs, and eyes checked out, and the stiff gait, tied to arthritis and neuropathy, hadn’t worsened. No neurological issues were found, but prostate screenings were conspicuously absent from the spotlight.
Biden’s use of a CPAP machine for sleep apnea, noted in 2024, addressed a long-standing issue from 2008. A root canal in 2023 passed without drama. Yet, the clean bill of health ignored the prostate cancer that would surface just over a year later.
“President Biden remains a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old,” O’Connor declared in 2024. That bold claim now fuels skepticism, as a Gleason 9 cancer doesn’t sprout overnight. The oversight stings, especially with Biden’s last known PSA test dating back to 2014.
The May 2025 diagnosis hit like a freight train, revealing cancer with bone metastasis after Biden reported urinary symptoms. His team noted the cancer’s hormone sensitivity offers treatment hope. Still, the late catch has experts like Dr. Marc Siegel floored.
“Thank God they found it,” Siegel said on May 19, praising Biden’s resilience but slamming the missed diagnosis. A fighter Biden may be, but the failure to spot this earlier points to a system asleep at the wheel. Routine PSA tests could’ve raised flags years ago.
Biden’s spokesperson confirmed that no prior prostate cancer diagnosis had been made before May 2025. The 2014 PSA test was the last on record, a gap that now looks reckless. Hindsight is 20/20, but skipping regular screenings for a man in his 80s is a head-scratcher.
Dr. O’Connor, Biden’s physician since 2009, built a tight bond with the family, even supporting Beau Biden through his 2015 brain cancer battle. “Take care of Pop,” Beau urged O’Connor, per Biden’s 2017 memoir. That loyalty now raises questions about objectivity in those glowing health reports.
O’Connor, dubbed “Doc” by the Bidens, was a trusted confidant, traveling with them to Nantucket. His 2021–2024 reports consistently downplayed concerns, from coughing to gait issues. Critics wonder if familiarity bred complacency, letting a deadly cancer slip through.
“Cancer touches us all,” Biden posted on X on May 19, demonstrating the fact that he is now leaning on faith and family. The sentiment is noble, but the health system’s failure to catch this sooner isn’t. When clean bills of health miss a Gleason 9 cancer, it’s time to rethink what “vigorous” really means.
