Saddled with new questions about former President Reagan’s health after President Trump’s doctor said he assumed there were mental issues at the end of the Gipper’s two terms, the Reagan Foundation is seeking a retraction to clear up the confusion.
The issue flared Tuesday when Dr. Ronny Jackson, a Navy rear admiral, was addressing Trump’s physical exam and mental test and made a reference to Reagan, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease long after leaving Washington.
Discussing Trump’s mental test and easy passage, Jackson told reporters:
I can say that that test — and I don’t know President Reagan’s actual medical condition and I don’t know what his condition was like toward the end of his presidency. I’ve read things and seen the documentaries and stuff, just like everybody here.
But let’s just assume that he did have some evidence of cognitive impairment toward the end of his presidency. I think that I can reliably say, and I think that the folks in the mental health community out there would back me up on the fact that, if he had some type of mental cognitive issue, that this test is sensitive enough — it would pick up on it. He would not have got 30 out of 30 on the test.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said that comment fired up critics who have wrongly claimed that Reagan suffered from any mental disease while president.
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The Foundation added, “It is a known medical fact that President Reagan was not diagnosed with early onset of Alzheimer’s until five years after leaving office. President Reagan’s own White House physicians, who had routine access to him every day of his eight year presidency as well as the 40th President’s doctors at the Mayo Clinic, found absolutely no evidence of the onset of early Alzheimer’s disease in President Reagan until five years after leaving office in 1994.”
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Reagan Foundation demands White House retraction on Alzheimer's claim https://t.co/2MjdbqWzfC pic.twitter.com/DYEqVlCBFO
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 19, 2018
Baloney. That test isn’t “sensitive”. Both my husband and father have had the test and the results were “normal”. However if you live with them and knew them it has been obvious there are some serious changes. My father for example has gotten lost twice driving home.
The Trump fans can’t seem to understand that this test does not show mental fitness. It is not a psychological exam. It is the kind of test that they give you if you get knocked on the head and were unconscious to see if you have brain damage. It won’t tell you whether or not the person has a mental disorder.
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