Mixed messages on Pres. Trump's health from officials paint confusing picture
(The Slice): How is the POTUS doing? Officials close to Pres. Donald Tump are being accused of downplaying his health status just as he downplayed the deadly Coronavirus disease.
Three days afte being diagnosed with Coronavirus on Friday, we do not know his health status based on contradictions from doctors, the White House's Mark Meadow and the missing time line on when he contracted the illness.
While we were being told he was in good spirits on the same day of the announcement, the POTUS's oxygen dropped below 94% saturation and he got supplemental oxygen for about an hour at the White House., before being air-lifted by Marine II to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, MD. Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany initally stated he was being taken to the hospital out of an "abundance of caution."
There were two press conferences over this weekend to answer the call for transparency from the media, but each time the mixed messages were amplified.
White House Physician Sean Conley said Saturday, "The fact of the matter is he is doing very well." They may be starting discharge plans for release by Monday doctors stated at a press conference on the steps of Walter Reed. Prior to this, Conley said the president was flown to Walter Reed after a "rapid progression" of his illness, with a high fever and his oxygen levels dropping.
The press secretary said his first positive test was when he returnd from Bedminister on Thursday, the day his symptoms started.
From the conflicting details from white house officials to the mixture of treatments that have been given in a short period, the message is that the president's condition is more severe than it is being purported to be.
Trump is on an extensive treatment pln. He is takig the anti-inflammatory drug Dexamethasone – a steroid that targets the lungs -- reserved for patients with severe or critical Covid-19 cases and continues to take Remdesivir, the anti-viral dug. In addition he is on a cocktail of experiemental drugs approved for compassionate use. Medical experts across the board are saying this is a aggressie treatment plan. He may be doing well now because the drugs are helping alleviate the reported "mild" symptoms that were initally reported.
Dr Conley has been accused of attempting to steer the perception about the situation as he admitted he wanted to keep the postive tone coming out of the White House -- as opposed to telling the truth with respect to professional guidelines.
“I didn’t want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction,” Sean Conley, the president’s physician, told reporters during a hospital briefing. “In doing so, it came off that we were trying to hide something, which wasn’t necessarily true.”
Messages from Conley and Meadows are confusing to the public.
CNN's Dr. Sunjay Gupta says they are not telling us everything.
Doctors must obey HIPAA privacy laws, yet a president is expected to be transparent about major health issues despite the outcome.
Meanwhile, the confirmation process for Amy Coney Barett, Trump's Supreme Court nominee may be delayed. Also, how the Trump campaign will engage on the ground in the last month before the election is a wild card. All of his campaign events have been cancelled. His opponent Joe Biden is moving full speed ahead.
The world is still waiting the hear the whole truth about the seriousness of his condition from the White House.