Donald Trump’s physician released a three page memo on Friday declaring the president in excellent health. By Monday, several independent doctors had reviewed the same document and reached a different conclusion, arguing that the memo was not a full health report but a summary of positive findings with inconvenient details left out.
“That report is almost too good to be true for somebody of his age,” Texas vascular surgeon Dr. William Shutze told the Wall Street Journal. “This seems to be a filtered narrative.”
Many of the questions centered on the cardiac section of the report. Barbabella cited a coronary CT angiography, an echocardiogram and an AI enhanced electrocardiogram analysis, all of which were described as normal.
Shutze pointed to one area that he believed needed more detail. “If I was creating a report to send to another physician, I would have mentioned a little bit more about the carotid ultrasound,” Shutze said. “What amount of plaque there is going to be — because almost all of us are going to have some buildup there.”
The report confirmed that the ultrasound had taken place but did not include a plaque measurement. The White House later said leaving out those details was standard practice for an executive summary.
That explanation brought another response from doctors reviewing the report. Dr. Jonathan Reiner of George Washington University and former cardiologist to Dick Cheney directly challenged the White House position after officials said medication details had been abbreviated for readability and relevance.
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Reiner responded on X and called that explanation simply “not true.”
The report’s AI cardiac analysis also raised questions after Barbabella wrote that an AI enhanced ECG estimated Trump’s cardiac age at approximately 65 instead of nearly 80. Reiner has previously said that this AI evaluation “is not a clinically utilized tool,” meaning the report highlighted a measurement that practicing cardiologists do not typically use in patient care decisions.
Trump’s cholesterol numbers also stood out, although for a different reason. His HDL measured 70 mg/dL while his LDL measured 53 mg/dL, numbers considered unusually strong for many patients. “He’s got like the best cholesterol numbers you’ll see,” said Dr. Daniel Torrent, a Georgia vascular surgeon. “We don’t usually manage people to the point where they’re that good.”
Torrent said the results stood out even for patients taking medication, while the White House said the numbers matched expected therapeutic outcomes.
The report also leaves out several previously documented conditions. The neck rash from March, attributed to a preventative skin treatment without explaining what it was treating, was not mentioned. The chronic venous insufficiency diagnosed last year received only one line stating that leg swelling had improved, without explaining how or by how much.
White House communications director Steven Cheung responded to the medical criticism by saying Trump “has publicly released more detailed information about his health than any other president in history.”
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
