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Doctors are calling out the Pentagon for calling Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s latest medical process to deal with prostrate cancer an “elective” surgical procedure,” saying that characterization is misleading.
The 70-year-old Defense secretary was hospitalized on Jan. 1 for problems from what officers are nonetheless calling an “elective” medical procedure that was later revealed to be related to prostate cancer. The Pentagon chief’s cancer diagnosis was made public Tuesday. The administration had previously only disclosed on Friday that Austin had been hospitalized earlier that week.
The Biden administration has taken heat for its handling of Austin’s absence, particularly on the issue of transparency, and, now, its facing backlash for telling the public last week when details of Austin’s condition were scarce that he had undergone an “elective” surgery.
Speaking Tuesday with Fox News Digital, Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, said Austin’s prostatectomy is “technically an elective surgical procedure,” but that characterization is misleading.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin walks down the steps of the Pentagon to greet Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu December 4, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. Ciolacu and Austin were scheduled to meet to discuss a range of bilateral issues. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
“Elective is split into emergency and non-emergency. We take elective principally to imply a nostril job and so the phrase elective is deceptive. This is prostate cancer,” Siegel said. “Not all prostate cancer is operated on, however they determined to take it out as a result of they thought it was aggressive-probably from the biopsy,” he said.
Siegel said it is misleading to call Austin’s prostate cancer surgery a minimally invasive surgery.
“Even although the da Vinci robotic is technically thought-about minimally invasive surgical procedure, it implies that it is a small operation. It could be higher to outline Austin’s surgical procedure as robotic prostate surgical procedure.”
“But going underneath anesthesia and normal surgical procedure shouldn’t be a stroll within the park that must be taken very significantly, even when our expertise has improved tremendously,” Siegel said.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Llyod Austin’s treatment for prostate cancer and his delay in notifying the White House was a focus of the briefing. (Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
Dr. Nicole Saphier, a Fox News contributor and radiologist, told Fox News Digital that she would not consider a cancer surgery to be elective.
“Anyone would assume that cancer therapy shouldn’t be elective, however as we learned throughout COVID, the definition of elective could be very completely different from a doctor or perhaps a affected person’s perspective, Dr. Saphier stated. “Cancer surgical procedures had been delayed through the early phases of COVID when all elective circumstances had been placed on maintain.”
I’d not take into account a cancer surgical procedure to be elective.
“Ultimately, cancer is life-threatening, so it is really arguing semantics whether you want to call cancer treatment, elective or not,” she stated.
“My personal opinion as a cancer specialist and human, I would not consider a cancer surgery to be elective, but the reality is, his prostate cancer was not immediately life-threatening at the moment,” Dr. Saphier stated. “Therefore, he was able to be scheduled on an outpatient, non-emergency basis.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifies earlier than a Senate Appropriations Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, Oct. 31, 2023. (AP Photo / Manuel Balce Ceneta / File)
Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder defended the use of “elective surgery” in a Tuesday press briefing, deferring to medical professionals.
“I’m going to defer to medical officials on this,” Ryder stated. “Again, we released this information as soon as we had it. And so, again, I’m going to refer back to the statement and, you know, going forward, we will use that as the baseline in terms of describing it.”
Ryder said that Austin’s doctor previously defined his surgery as elective and the initial statement from the Pentagon was written after consulting his doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“So to my knowledge, that initial statement was coordinated in consultation with his doctors,” Ryder said.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin makes a joint statement with Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, after their meeting about Israel’s military operation in Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo / Maya Alleruzzo / File)
Following Austin’s surgery, he was hospitalized following “complications,” Ryder said on Friday, Jan. 5.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and NSC Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby converse throughout a briefing to the media on the White House on January 9, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Joshua Roberts/Getty Images)
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers on Tuesday introduced a proper inquiry into the dearth of transparency surrounding Austin’s hospitalization.
“With wars in Ukraine and Israel, the idea that the White House and even your own Deputy did not understand the nature of your condition is patently unacceptable,” Rogers wrote in a letter to Austin on Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin participates in a gathering with Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto on the Pentagon on June 23, 2023 in Arlington, Virginia. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Seigel stated that Austin ought to use this expertise as a “great teaching moment” and convey public consciousness to prostate cancer.
“This should have been a great teaching moment and still could be for Black Americans, given the fact that they have 2.5 times greater risk of prostate cancer and 2.5 greater chances of dying,” Siegel stated.
“I would have liked to see the defense secretary come out for public awareness rather than hide– and he still could,” he stated.
WHITE HOUSE LAUNCHING REVIEW OF CABINET PROTOCOLS AFTER DEFENSE SECRETARY’S HOSPITALIZATION: MEMO
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks throughout a plenary session on the nineteenth International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-la Dialogue, Asia’s annual protection and safety discussion board, in Singapore, Saturday, June 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Danial Hakim)
Austin was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Dec. 22 and underwent surgical procedure to deal with the cancer. He developed the an infection per week later.
Biden and different senior administration officers weren’t advised for days about his hospitalization or his cancer.
According to the docs, the cancer was detected when Austin had an everyday screening in early December.
They stated his prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis was wonderful.
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The Pentagon didn’t instantly reply to Fox News Digital’s request for remark.
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