Monitoring a bladder problem
US Secretary of Defense Austin is in intensive care
February 12, 2024, 8:14 a.m
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For the second time this year, US Secretary of Defense Austin is unable to carry out his duties. The cause is a bladder problem. As a precaution, the treating doctors moved the Pentagon chief to the intensive care unit. The prognosis for his cancer remains excellent, it is said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been moved to intensive care after being admitted to a military hospital near Washington. After a series of tests and examinations, he will continue to be cared for and closely monitored there, it says Announcement from the hospital. Doctors added that the current bladder problem is not expected to affect his expected full recovery. The prognosis for his cancer remains excellent. At this point it is not clear how long the minister will stay in the hospital.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder had previously announced that Austin was taken to a military hospital near Washington at 2:20 p.m. (local time) with symptoms of an acute bladder problem. A few hours later, it was reported that Deputy Hicks had assumed his duties at 4:55 p.m. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House and Congress have been informed.
The 70-year-old came under criticism at the beginning of the year because he had kept prostate cancer and a hospital stay as a result of complications from a procedure a secret. Even US President Joe Biden didn’t know for several days that Austin was in the hospital – but later confirmed that he wanted to stick with him. Austin was released from the hospital on January 15th and then returned to work at the Pentagon at the end of January, where he received NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the same day. “I’m feeling and recovering well, but I’m still in the process of getting fit again,” the 70-year-old assured at this appointment.
Transparent politicians
In the United States, it is common practice for the public to be very closely informed about the health of its top politicians. When it became known that Austin had kept his hospital stay secret, the question arose as to who would be in charge at the Pentagon if the Secretary of Defense was absent, given international crises such as Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and the tense situation in the Middle East. According to reports from US media, Austin’s deputy Hicks stepped in from vacation in Puerto Rico at the beginning of the year and took on some tasks from there.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men in the United States after nonmelanoma skin cancer. In the early stages, the chances of recovery are generally good. The prostate (prostate gland) is an organ the size of a walnut that surrounds the base of the urethra in men.