Doctors and members of the press were quick to express their dissatisfaction with White House physician Dr. Sean Conley as they reacted to a briefing outside of Walter Reed on Sunday morning, which left many questions unanswered after an evasive briefing the day before.
During the briefing on Sunday, Dr. Brian Garibaldi of Johns Hopkins University said that the President could be discharged from the hospital as early as Monday, despite how Trump experienced at least two concerning drops in oxygen levels over the weekend.
“If he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the White House where he can continue his treatment course,” Garibaldi said.
Adding to the Trump administration’s ongoing mixed messaging on the President’s health, Conley said that he had omitted revealing Trump’s significant drops in oxygen levels during a briefing the day before because he wanted to “reflect the upbeat attitude” of Trump’s medical team and the President himself. Conley added that he tried not “to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction.”
Although Conley acknowledged that his evasive answers “came off that we were trying to hide something,” he quickly argued that “wasn’t necessarily true” and that the President is “doing really well.”
Conley also declined to go into detail about whether X-rays or CT scans have shown that the President is suffering from lung damage as a result of contracting COVID-19.
“There’s some expected findings, but nothing of any major clinical concern,” Conley said, without clarifying what the so-called “expected findings” entail.
Here’s how doctors and members of the press weighed in on Sunday’s befuddling briefing by Trump’s medical team:
The President's doctor says he wasn't fully forthcoming to the public yesterday because he wanted to project an upbeat attitude. @jaketapper: "Is that what a physician is supposed to do?"@drsanjaygupta: "No. You've got to be honest. You've got to be transparent." pic.twitter.com/uP4KQVTodv
— Josh Campbell (@joshscampbell) October 4, 2020
“As a physician, as someone who has given these briefings in the past and as an American, I was really offended by it.” – @JReinerMD
“We’re having to play detective here and trying to figure out what pieces are missing and trying to figure out pieces are missing.” –@DrLeanaWen pic.twitter.com/7KbR4s1AmU
— Ana Cabrera (@AnaCabrera) October 4, 2020
So Dr. Conley outright lied yesterday when he was asked if the president had received oxygen.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 4, 2020
The lying from the White House on Friday and from Conley yesterday about the president's condition is staggering.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 4, 2020
Information doesn’t steer the course of an illness one way or another unless he means how the patient absorbs it. https://t.co/MJMLPnMWEz
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 4, 2020
Four critical pieces of information that illustrate why transparency and credibility are needed at this time. https://t.co/1w52MNiKSf
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 4, 2020
Again, what is going on? Seriously.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) October 4, 2020
It's jarring that President Trump's doctors are saying both that they have started giving him dexamethasone (typically used in severe disease) and that they may release him tomorrow. It's another K-shaped recovery!
— Michelle Fay Cortez (@FayCortez) October 4, 2020
There’s a long history of White Houses lying about the president’s health — JFK, FDR, etc. The distinction here is the incompetence.
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) October 4, 2020
Because accurate information would convince the virus to be worse? https://t.co/J43VNyz3jd
— Paul Farhi (@farhip) October 4, 2020
When asked if the president’s oxygen saturation dipped below 90, Dr. Conley danced briefly and then said it had never reached the “low 80s.”
Which does not answer the question
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) October 4, 2020
This photo tells at least 1,000 words about this weekend https://t.co/pXYqMVonnJ
— Jonathan Lemire (@JonLemire) October 4, 2020
How can the President’s doctor not answer this basic question?! https://t.co/dq0Hd8OBZK
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) October 4, 2020
Good god https://t.co/nNrVfmLwwT
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) October 4, 2020
And when asked if the President received oxygen yesterday, Dr. Conley said, “I'd have to check w/ the nursing staff…If he did it was very, very limited.”
One would assume the doctor is fully aware of what his patient receives. https://t.co/PIU75soFjT
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) October 4, 2020
I’m no doctor but how does relaying accurate information affect the course of an illness exactly? https://t.co/559UhnrzzP
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) October 4, 2020
Conley just said it "wasn't necessarily true" he was trying to conceal the president's condition on Friday.
Which means it is a little true? Kinda true or nah?
— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) October 4, 2020
