1/8/2018

MENTAL HEALTH/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “If President Donald Trump were any other 71-year-old — covered by Medicare and having his annual wellness visit — he’d be checked on his cognitive functions and possible safety risks. But when the president goes for his physical exam Friday [1-12-18], the White House said his mental fitness won’t be tested. And there’s no guarantee that the public would find out the results of cognitive tests if Trump were to take them.
White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said such tests are not part of the president’s planned physical. ‘He’s sharp as a tack. He’s a workhorse, and he demands his staff be the same way,’ he told reporters aboard Air Force One.
That decision concerns physicians and public health experts who say Trump should be assessed the same way as other elderly Americans, particularly given his globe-shaping job and his control of the U.S. nuclear arsenal…
Trump’s visit to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he’ll undergo his first physical as president, continues a long tradition of presidents getting semi-regular check-ups in order to reassure the public… But the White House is neither required to perform a regular physical exam of the president, nor required to release all of the details unless the president consents. The exam also may not include Medicare’s standard battery of wellness tests, which are designed for Americans age 66 and older, and check for risks like depression and other neurological problems. When asked whether Trump would have ‘a psychiatric test,’ Gidley responded no, but declined to elaborate.”

-Dan Diamond and Adam Cancryn, “Is Trump mentally fit? Don’t count on his physical to tell you,” Politico, Jan. 8, 2018 07:04pm