U.S. Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was hospitalized on Sunday for “symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” officials have revealed.
“Earlier today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III was transported by his security detail to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be seen for symptoms suggesting an emergent bladder issue,” Dr John Maddox, trauma medical director, and Dr Gregory Chesnut, director of the Center for Prostate Disease Research of the Murtha Cancer Center, said in a statement.
They wrote that after “a series of tests and evaluations” on Sunday, the retired four-star general was admitted to the hospital’s critical care unit “for supportive care and close monitoring.”
“At this time, it is not clear how long Secretary Austin will remain hospitalized,” they added. “The current bladder issue is not expected to change his anticipated full recovery.”
Austin, 70, had hoped to continue performing his official duties while in hospital, an initial statement announcing the visit had said. However, after he was hospitalized indefinitely, the Department of Defense said that at around 4:55 p.m. ET on Sunday, he had transferred his official functions and duties to his deputy, Kathleen Hicks.
The defense secretary recently came under scrutiny for not disclosing two previous stays in hospital relating to a diagnosis of prostate cancer.
From January 1-15, Austin received medical care after suffering complications from a “minimally invasive surgical procedure” for a prostate cancer diagnosis on December 22.
But the Pentagon did not inform the public, nor top Biden administration officials, for several days after he was admitted. On January 9, the White House said the president had not been informed that his defense secretary had cancer until that day, according to the Associated Press.
On February 1, Austin addressed the criticism that he had underplayed the seriousness of his health issues in a press conference. The defense secretary admitted he “did not handle this right,” and committed “to doing better.”
Maddox and Chesnut said on Sunday that Austin’s cancer prognosis “remains excellent” and that updates on his condition “will be provided as soon as possible.”
Austin was due to travel to Belgium on Tuesday for a meeting regarding the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, as well as a meeting of NATO defense ministers on Thursday. It remains unclear whether his stay in hospital will impede those plans, or whether Hicks will attend in his place.
A Department of Defense spokesperson told Newsweek: “We do not have any additional information regarding the Secretary’s trip at this time.”
Sounds like that doctor that did Austin surgery really messed him up. State of the art surgeries are not all the best sometimes.
Thank God for intervening. Keep this guy out of commission for a while. He’s very dangerous.
Wow, the entire Biden regime is rotting at the core, and no one seems able to stop it, cure it nor even desire to attempt it. What in the hell is the matter with this democratic regime? Don’t we, the innocent American Citizens, have any worth or even matter to this damn group?/?