Concerns grow over President Trump's health
LOS ANGELES - Since getting out of the hospital President Trump has said more than once how great he feels. But, if he wasn’t so good and couldn’t do his job the the 25th Amendment might come into play.
It essentially puts the decision of whether a president stays office in the hands of his cabinet and vice president.
Loyola Law Professor Jessica Levinson says, “the Vice President of the United States and a majority of the cabinet have to tell the President of the Senate ProTem and the Speaker of the House the President is unable to fulfill his official duties.”
But, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a bill just introduced, says it needs to be more of a bi-partisan commission of people other than the cabinet which to Levinson means, “It should include medical doctors. It should include experts as to whether or not a president is up to the task to try and take some of the politics out of that.”
RELATED: Pelosi unveils 25th Amendment legislation, questions Trump's fitness
“This legislation applies to future presidents. But we are reminded of the necessity of action by the health of the current President,” Pelosi said.
Trump who plans campaign activities this weekend and has been cleared by his doctors to go back to work is still under his doctor's care...
Dr. Matt Waxman is a professor of Emergency Medicine at UCLA. He says, “Whether you support him or not you want the guy to do well.”
Waxman says the President may be itching to get back to the big crowds, but he says COVID19 has a way of hanging around and may affect him for some time.
On top of that there are those who think some of the President’s recent actions like that escape from the hospital to wave at his supporters and some comments he’s made are reactions from the steroid or other medications he’s on.
“The President is the President and it doesn’t surprise me if what the President says is a wild and provocative thing. He’s just that kind of guy. It’s difficult for us to see is this related to the coronavirus itself making him a little unhinged or is it related to one of the treatments he’s gotten. Regarding the coronavirus we do know now that you can have some cognitive or mental effects weeks and month after you recover in the last phase of the disease,” Dr. Waxman stated.
Waxman isn’t Trump's doctor and can’t confidently say if that’s the case for the president. But, he says, "...the COVID itself definitely affects your mental state.”
And, Waxman says, that steroid Dexamethasone "...can also make you feel loopy. It can also make you feel powerful and great and it can cause depression. It has some mental effect. Whether the President is suffering from those, but it can be a side effect of Dexamethasone."