The recent diagnosis that former President Joe Biden is battling an aggressive form of prostate cancer has left many medical experts questioning how such advanced cancer went undetected during his presidency.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist who served on Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board and previously worked under President Barack Obama, expressed surprise at the possible oversight.

“He did not develop it in the last 100-200 days. He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency,” Emanuel said on Monday.

A sudden, serious cancer diagnosis is possible, an expert told The Baltimore Sun on Monday. Otis Brawley, former American Cancer Society chief medical officer, said he sees six to nine patients a year with newly diagnosed metastatic disease. Brawley is a professor of oncology and epidemiology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

During his time in office, Biden underwent regular physicals. His medical reports noted treatment for seasonal allergies and sleep apnea, as well as monitoring for skin cancer and consultations in neurology and orthopedics.

However, there was no mention of prostate cancer screening or treatment, which Emanuel found to be surprising.

“President Obama had this test, President Bush had this test. It is a little surprising that the doctor didn’t take it,” he said.

In Biden’s 2024 physical, his doctor described him as “a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”

The timing of Biden’s cancer announcement has sparked suspicion. CNN media analyst Brian Stelter noted, “Biden learned of the diagnoses on Friday. Well, what was the biggest Biden story on Friday? It was the release of those audio excerpts from his conversations with Robert Hurr back in 2023 showing memory lapses.”

The cancer news coincides with the release of books alleging a cover-up of Biden’s declining health while in office. Biden dismissed these claims, stating, “They are wrong. Nothing to sustain that number one.” First Lady Jill Biden added, “The people who wrote those books weren’t in the White House with us.”

Despite accusations Biden’s team used the cancer announcement as a distraction, a growing number of Democrats and Republicans are questioning whether Biden was honest about his fitness to serve another term.

Although he wished Biden well, Vice President J.D. Vance said there needed to be transparency about Biden’s ability to serve as president.

“Look, I will say, whether the right time to have this conversation is now or at some point in the future, we really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job,” Vance told reporters aboard Air Force 2 before it departed Rome on Monday, per a pool report.

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