Biden must submit to a cognitive assessment at his next medical exam, concludes DR. NICOLE SAPHIER

Nicole Saphier, MD is a physician at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, and bestselling author of ‘Panic Attack.’ Her opinions are her own and not a reflection of her employers.

During President Joe Biden’s first extended conversation with a professional journalist in more than 200 days, the 79-year-old commander in chief was confronted with a question that puzzled many Americans.

‘Some people ask if you’re right for the job,’ asked ’60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley, ‘And when you hear that, I wonder what you think.’

‘Look at me. Honest to God, that’s all I think. Watch me,” the president replied.

Well, America is watching, Mr. President. As a doctor and concerned citizen, I believe it’s been a long time since we’ve gotten real answers.

At his next annual medical examination at Walter Reed Medical Center, likely in November, President Biden will have to undergo a cognitive assessment, as will President Donald Trump. And those test results should be released to the American public.

Although I am a doctor, I have not formally examined President Biden. I can’t remotely diagnose the president or anyone else. But common sense demands that we don’t ignore the disturbing signs in front of our faces.

Since taking office, Biden’s physical fitness appears to have declined.

In his November 2021 exam, the president’s doctor noted that Biden’s “ambulatory gait is noticeably stiffer and less fluid than it was a year or so ago.”

This is not surprising, in fact it is an expected event that comes with age.

But the concern isn’t just for the physical health of an aging president, there are also concerns about whether he is cognitively fit to handle the rigors of his position.

Biden’s public gaffes include key moments of mispronunciation, shuffling gait, mumbling and appearing confused at public events.

In fact, these disturbing moments are almost too numerous to list here.

After an open-air event at the White House in August, the president tried to shake hands with Senator Chuck Schumer after he seemed to forget they had just shaken hands.

After his remarks at the Global Fund Conference in September, Biden looked lost as he walked off the podium before appearing to ask the crowd where to go.

In his ’60 Minutes’ interview, Biden contradicted official US policy by saying that the US military would defend Taiwan in the event that the island was attacked by China. Hours later, the White House retracted that statement.

In February 2022, the president made a mistake when Russia appeared poised to attack Ukraine.

“It’s one thing if it’s a small raid and then we argue about what to do and what not to do and so on,” he said of a hypothetical US response.

“Are you actually giving Putin permission to make a small incursion into the country?” a reporter followed.

The president laughed and said, “Good question. That’s what it sounded like, right?’ He did not correct his statement at the time.

The most recent apparent stumbling block occurred at a White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health in Washington, DC on Wednesday.

As the president praised lawmakers in the chamber, Biden appears to be seeking out Republican Representative Jackie Walorski in the crowd.

“Jackie, are you here?” he said. ‘Where’s Jackie? She can’t be here.’

Walorski was a prominent proponent of legislation to address food insecurity among Americans.

In August, Representative Walorski and two aides were tragically killed in a car accident in her northern district of Indiana.

President Biden acknowledged her death in a statement at the time. Walorski’s brother announced on Wednesday that even shortly after the accident, President Biden called his family and offered his personal condolences.

“He called after my sister was killed and he was very sincere about conveying the grieving process…,” Keith Walorski told the New York Post. “Yeah, it was a big mess today. Unforgivable? No. Unforgivable? No. I won’t blame him. I just feel sorry for him.’

One reasonably wonders why the president seemed to think Representative Walorski was still alive and in the room with him, when he spoke to her family about her death eight weeks ago?

It is not inappropriate to ask whether the p

The resident’s short-term memory is poor.

This latest gaffe came up repeatedly during the White House briefing on Wednesday, in which press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to admit that the president had made a mistake.

Instead, she said the late congressman was “top of his mind” for the president, as members of her family were due to meet with him this week.

Her explanation did not go down well with the White House press. And it shouldn’t. There is good reason to question President Biden’s mental acuity, and I am not the first to raise this issue.

In August 2021, retired surgeon and former Iowa Congressman Greg Ganske wrote: the Des Moines registry about his concerns about the president’s “mental acuity.”

Ganske recounted his personal interaction with the then-Senator in 1997 when Biden was 54 years old, and Ganske noted how much Biden had changed in 20 years.

“It pains me greatly to see a decline in President Biden, and I am concerned,” he wrote.

“There is enough evidence to legitimately demand an investigation into his mental acuity,” he concluded.

In a new statement to DailyMail.com, Ganke writes: “I am in the right.”

During Trump’s tenure, political pundits and medical professionals have not shied away from questioning his mental health.

In 2018, President Trump received a cognitive test as part of his annual health screening.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is designed to assess cognitive impairment or early dementia. According to the White House, President Trump, who was 72 at the time, received a perfect score of 30 out of 30.

It is not indecent to demand full transparency about the physical and cognitive fitness of our political leaders. These can be tricky topics to discuss, but the public deserves transparency.

America must give its best as it faces the effects of the pandemic, war in Europe, the opioid crisis, a failing public education system, persistent inflation and a host of other pressing problems.

As a medical professional, we assess future risks and required health screenings based on individual life expectancy and whether their health status is compatible with future challenges.

President Biden and our political leaders should not be excluded from this vital determination. Americans deserve nothing less.