Doctor reveals everything wrong with Donald Trump's 'live' health check on Fox News Win Mcnamee
BY HOPE NGO/OCT. 9, 2020 11:36 PM EDT/UPDATED: OCT. 10, 2020 6:36 PM EDT
If you were tuning in to get some clarity on President Donald Trump's medical situation Friday night, you might have come away feeling more than a bit disappointed. Fox News had seemed to promise, and other stations — like WGN9 — has interpreted, that this would be Trump's first on-camera interview since he got sick, and medical examination on top of that. As it turns out, we didn't exactly get what we paid for, because as Dr. José Morey, board-certified physician of radiology and founder of Ad Astra Media told The List, "To begin it was not a medical evaluation. In fact you saw Dr. [Marc] Siegel [the interviewer] preface that at the beginning. If it had been, he could be in violation of either NY state's or D.C.'s telehealth laws. He said it jokingly, but it was a medical disclaimer to not be able to be held liable against medical/legal violations." Morey also points out that the location of what we now know was a taped interview gave away the fact that there is some concern over just how contagious the president still could be. "The fact that it was outside makes me believe that they are still concerned for potential infection transmission. We know being outside is safer than being enclosed. I assume this was to protect the camera crew and other auxiliary individuals for this interview," Morey says.
While President Donald Trump insists that all is well, thanks to the excellent medical staff at Walter Reed, the board-certified physician of radiology tells The List that the reality could not be more stark for the president. "He is still exhibiting signs of infection. Earlier in the day during his call on Sean Hannity you could hear him coughing. Both during that call and during this interview you could hear some voice strain." Morey said that the video clip also shows the president struggling to breathe, especially at the end of long sentences, which is visible during the on-camera interview. "He [President Trump} would have to inhale deeply. He was also pursing his lips while he breathed and mouth breathing which are signs of stress. His lips may have been mildly cyanotic (blue). It is hard to tell but it is a sign of oxygen desaturation which is consistent with his clinical history. His sentences at times were short with gasps of air."
The president's admission led Morey to address a matter Trump's physicians, like Sean Conley, have been brushing aside, but which reporters have been asking to be addressed. Throughout Trump's stay at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, the president's team of physicians had either evaded questions or refused to clarify whether the president had lung damage, and when Trump last still received a negative COVID test. To this point, Morey told us, "It sounds like the president had a CT scan that found typical ground glass opacities often seen in COVID infections. It also seems like these may not have fully cleared by the time that he left." Various medical sources describe ground glass opacities as abnormal findings usually picked up by CT scans, and they show up as hazy, gray areas in the lungs (via WebMD).
Morey calls out Trump's interviewer for skipping critical questions that would have classified the televised interview as an actual medical examination. "The doctor didn't ask any questions in the way you would with a patient if this had been a true medical evaluation. An example is how he queried about side effects of dexamethasone. In a medical eval you do not ask how did you handle the steroids, you ask for probing questions that would elucidate the typical complications of steroids." The board-certified physician of radiology also called out the interviewer, Dr. Marc Siegel, for raising incorrect statements about the virus. "He [Siegel] has stated that COVID is no worse than influenza. We know both by the numbers and extent of disease manifestation this is false. The CDC estimates nearly 35 million Americans were infected by the flu in last year's cycle with about 35,000 deaths. This death rate is at about 0.1 percent compared to coronavirus of about 5 percent. The hospitalization rate is also much higher. The manifestations of vasculopathy, hemorrhage, GI symptoms, neurologic symptoms, and long term respiratory and other complications far outpaces those of influenza," Morey says.
Morey adds that Siegel also stated that masks didn't provide adequate protection against COVID-19. Morey stressed, "This is not true. Although the reality is more complicated due to proper fitting and adherence, if both are followed the data shows dramatic decreases in infection propagation." In case you're wondering whether the president was fit to return to the White House, never mind planning public rallies so soon after he was diagnosed with COVID-19? "It seems like the president left earlier than the physicians would have wanted. Typically you are treated under supervision for five days on Remdesivir which he received. We know he got the final treatment at the White House. This may mean the president left AMA (against medical advice)," Morey tells The List.