Criticism after hospital stay
US Secretary of Defense makes cancer public
January 9, 2024, 10:00 p.m
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The public initially doesn’t know anything about it: US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has been being treated in the hospital since the beginning of the year. The Pentagon is holding back information and is receiving a lot of criticism for it. The details only became known more than a week later.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has revealed that he has prostate cancer. The disease was recognized early and the prognosis for recovery was “excellent,” as the responsible clinic near the capital Washington announced. Due to complications following an operation at the end of December, the 70-year-old has had to be treated in hospital since the beginning of the year.
The hospitalization caused a lot of excitement because the US Department of Defense initially did not make it public. “He is no longer in the intensive care unit and is recovering in a more private area of the hospital,” the Pentagon said Monday evening.
The Pentagon chief had already been admitted to a clinic on New Year’s Day due to complications from a previous procedure – but the ministry only announced this publicly last Friday, almost a week later. US President Joe Biden was reportedly not initially informed. Austin apologized for the information policy on Saturday evening. According to US media, the complications are said to have been infections.
The Pentagon not only informed about Austin’s hospital stay very late, but also held back on details. The ministry did not provide any information about what type of procedure had caused complications or what treatment was necessary. Several US media outlets, including NBC, reported, citing government circles, that Austin’s deputy Kathleen Hicks stepped in from vacation in Puerto Rico and took on some tasks from there.