Surgeon who operated on Biden's brain: He's better now than before brain surgery
At the time of Biden’s brush with death in 1988, his wife, Jill Biden, feared that he would never be the same. In a forthcoming autobiography, “Where the Light Enters," Jill recounts Joe's doctor telling the family that there was a significant chance he’d have permanent neurological damage, particularly after he suffered a second aneurysm, a condition in which an artery becomes weak and bulges out.
"Our doctor told us there was a 50-50 chance Joe wouldn't survive surgery," she wrote. "He also said that it was even more likely that Joe would have permanent brain damage if he survived. And if any part of his brain would be adversely affected, it would be the area that governed speech."
Initially, Joe Biden suffered an aneurysm that burst and required him to undergo emergency surgery. He was so close to death that a priest was preparing to administer the Catholic sacrament of last rites. A few months later, surgeons clipped a second aneurysm before it burst, after discovering it during a routine screening.
Biden took a seven-month leave from the Senate following the surgery, and has described it in blunt terms, saying, “they literally had to take the top of my head off.”
Not everyone is as fortunate after an aneurysm as Biden was: 30,000 people have aneurysms that rupture every year, and about 40 percent of those cases are fatal. Of those who survive, 66 percent have a neurological deficit.
From the information revealed, it was not clear how often Biden has been screened for aneurysms, and there wasn't any other information provided when he was vice president. In contrast, records show that Barack Obama had at least four medical checkups during his presidency.
No law requires presidents, vice presidents, or candidates to have a medical checkup or to disclose what comes of it.
Dr. Babu Welch, a neurological surgeon with University of Texas-Southwestern’s O’Donnell Brain Institute, said that people who have had one aneurysm can always have another. People are supposed to undergo regular screenings shortly after they have an aneurysm, but then can space them out further as time goes on, he said.
Biden would also be the oldest man to enter the White House should he win in 2020. Speculation about presidential candidates' health
is not new: Whispers emerged about Ronald Reagan potentially having Alzheimer’s disease during his reelection campaign in 1984, Sen. John McCain faced scrutiny over his healthcare records when he ran for president against Barack Obama
Surgeon who operated on Biden:
