Improving the transparency of White House Physicians: The lessons of the past and the needs of the future

Every US President has had a personal physician; in 1898 this doctor became a government employee. Later known as the White House Physician, many have provided inadequate medical care, and deliberately hidden evidence of incapacitating illnesses. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt are two of the most glaring examples: Wilson barely survived an incapacitating stroke, which his physician never disclosed, and Roosevelt’s physician repeatedly denied any serious illness. Future Presidents will likely receive excellent medical care; but transparency when the President is medically incapacitated may remain dangerously inadequate. Due to Constitutional limits, including the Twenty-fifth Amendment, removal of an incapacitated President remains very difficult. Recommendations for future physicians include requiring Senate confirmation, and the submission of regular reports on the President’s health, possibly to the House Judiciary Committee, which is responsible for potential impeachment.