This whole Lloyd Austin thing is damn weird. He went into the hospital on January 1 due to "complications" from surgery but didn't tell anyone until four days later. I had a vague thought that maybe it was because the surgery was for something he didn't want to make public, like a vasectomy or syphilis scarring. But no:
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had surgery last month after a prostate cancer diagnosis, officials disclosed Tuesday, detailing for the first time what condition led to medical complications and a lengthy hospitalization that he kept secret from the White House, Congress and the American public for several days.
Why would you keep something like this secret? As it happens, this episode doesn't really touch a hot button for me,¹ but obviously it has for a lot of people. It's sure peculiar as hell.
¹As you might guess, this is true of a lot of things that people hyperventilate about. I think we'd all benefit by calming down just generally. It's one of the reasons I liked Barack Obama so much.
Yet another example how it isn’t the “crime” but the cover-up.
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A news account I heard on WTOP the premier local DC all news station indicated that the DOD press secretary was informed but then kept it to themselves, the deputy DOD secretary was only given vague information about why she needed to cover for Sec. Austin.
Yes, it sounds like there was a major breakdown in communications in a part of the government where clear communication is REALLY important. Remedial instructions have been issued; one hopes people follow them.
Erectile dysfunction from prostate surgery is a problem for four star generals and Secretaries of War because of their need to protrude national military power.
I see you have an axe to grind, but I'm going to have to inform you that prostate cancer is not the same thing as a simply enlarged prostate that causes ED.
If they need to remove the entire prostate as a result of the cancer (radical prostatectomy), nerve and vascular damage to your penis as a consequence of the surgery is highly likely. ED rates after the surgery are as high as 85%.
And the list of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) that go along with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) doesn’t usually include erectile dysfunction.
So what's so "personal" and "sensitive" about prostate cancer? Most old men get it, most die with it but not of it. Sounds as if Mr Austin is flirting awfully close to dereliction of duty by his failures to notify.
Just because someone is a public figure doesn't mean that their personal health information isn't confidential, in legal terms.
Really? You do live in America, right? Where it was "so brave" for Katie Couric to show us her colonoscopy and where we still can't show bare buttocks on broadcast TV? (The prostate is up your asshole next to your face, if you weren't aware, Salamander.)
Mr Austin telling the President that he would be out for a few days for "medical reasons" and who's been delegated to take his place is hardly showing off his nasty bits on the teevie. At least, in my opinion.
There are basically two main kinds of prostate cancer. One, the kind you're thinking of, is the kind that virtually all men will get if they live long enough. It's very, very slow-developing, so slow that it's almost never life-threatening.
The other is extremely virulent and invasive, spreads very quickly, and often lodges in the bone marrow. That's apparently what Austin was found to have, judging from the very quick resort to surgery (I'm going by the Walter Reed press release). The "complication" that had him in the ICU was a UTI that must have resulted from one of the usual surgical methods of dealing with this (try googling TURP if you're interested).
This second kind of prostate cancer isn't something to fool around with. I knew people it killed.
Austin screwed up big-time keeping everyone in the dark and there's no excuse for it. Somebody (I forget who, maybe David Burbach?) suggested it happened because that's how 4-star generals are and Austin hasn't shaken the habit enough to be fully civilian.
Whatever. Biden should put out the word that he had a little talk with Austin back behind the woodshed, like Reagan did with Stockman, or something like that, just to show who's boss and that he was pissed. And then let it go.
Thanks! All your points are good. As an aside, if one were, let's say, an ordinary person working in some kind of job, and they had to go in for surgery that would keep them out of the jobsite for a period of time, even just a day, they'd be obligated to call in, or have someone call in for them to let "the boss" know of their absence.
No need to violate HIPPA or anything, as so many columnists and commentators have insisted. "Out for medical reasons". Done.
And apparently Sec Def is a more earth-shattering position than, say, backup barrista. So Mr Austin should have at least dropped a note to the Big Guy. However, the fact that Rabid Republicans of the MAGA Cult want him fired is sufficient reason to probably not even consider this option.
Pretty sure being in the ICU is an appropriate reason to have missed calling.
Also, the specific procedure is irrelevant to the notification that he'll be medically unavailable. I don't want him to tell staff, the white house etc exactly why he's going to the hospital, just that he is.
Austin's condition should not be public information without his permission.
His Commander in Chief, however, should have been informed ahead of time. In an unlikely emergency, it would be bad to have POTUS learn about his Defense Secretary's absence and the reason for it, in the Situation Room.
Ironically, by trying to keep his "personal problem" secret, Mr Austin has had it aired to the entire world.
I was just thinking this morning that all these breathless headlines were a sign that everyone is too damn addicted to drama.
Austin MUST Resign.
Sheesh. Really? I think we might want to consider scrapping this internet thing and starting over, it's really turned everyone into drama queens.
This whole thing seems completely blown out of proportion. The US conducted a strike on Baghdad while this guy was MIA, definitely suggesting that SecDef doesn't physically need to be there at every moment for the other approx million people working at the Pentagon to do war stuff. The guy was probably embarrassed to be talking about his prostate - lots of men are, which is why prostate cancer often doesn't get caught until it's too late - and then other people dropped the ball because it was a holiday week and some of them had other illnesses reportedly. But I guess this week needed another shiny object for the media to chase around instead of investigating real security risks facing the nation. (Also, I love that the people outraged about this are of the same party that allowed that asshat Tuberville to sit on military promotions for months. Cause nothing says "I support national security" more than leaving lots of military positions open and lots more people working on just a temporary basis in their new role or working constant overtime to cover for the people who can't be confirmed for promotion.)
Right? Republicans were the absolute worst this week with the leadership outrage and calls for resignations yet they've let the Tuberville shitshow go on and on and on, so having leadership in place clearly doesn't really matter.
I agree -- the Republican hypocrisy on this is gobsmacking. Oh, *now* they're all concerned about "military preparedness" and such after six months of Tuberville's antics. FFS.
That said, Austin wasn't obligated to share every detail of what he was being hospitalized for, but he should have at least told the WH and JCOS that he was going to be away from the office for a week or so to deal with a medical issue and that the Assistant SecDef would be temporarily taking charge, etc.
A post-operative infection which landed him in the ICU? Was he not given post-procedure antibiotics to take? Did he not take them?
Maybe nicked the bowel? A great way to get septic with peritonitis. Painful, dangerous. Neels lots of IV antibiotics and drainage of the peritoneum. You wouldn't want it.
Indeed.
He went into the hospital on January 1 due to "complications" from surgery but didn't tell anyone until four days later.
Don't buy into right wing talking points. It's vanishingly unlikely Austin "didn't tell anyone." I mean, do you think he ditched his security detail and grabbed an uber? Didn't tell his personal staff? His assistant?
I understand it strongly appears Austin didn't follow proper "whereabouts disclosure" procedures (and this needs to be investigated so that, among other things, these procedures can be clarified and strengthened).
But my guess is: A) the SECDEF has the ability to communicate with the chain of command 24/7, no matter where he is; B) so it didn't immediately occur to his staff to phone the White House to report a location change to Walter Reed; C) the planned routine (outpatient?), brief visit turned into something more serious. Shit happens; D) his staff screwed up in terms of the notification protocol; E) being a stand up guy, Austin wasn't about to throw his people under the bus, but has taken full responsibility.
Also, while it is obvious that the president and executive branch officials need to be able to reach SECDEF at all times, and so essentially need real time updates, I reject the notion that Congress does.
Also, just going to go ahead and say it: while (again), White House officials need to be able to reach the SECDEF at a moment's notice, I think the notion that we need full public disclosure of his whereabouts is nuts. It's frankly not in keeping with best national security practices.
His deputy was on vacation and the staffer responsible for telling people was out with the flu. Hes an extreme introvert so he likely chose not to tell people.
He made a bad decision, but as long as we clear up the procedures so the frickin white house knows, and he follows them so it doesnt happen again we can move on.
Deputy SECDEF was on vacation. His Chief of Staff was ill. I've read this, too. But do people honestly think US DoD officials of that rank don't carry secure phones, or lack the ability to be contacted, no matter where they are?
But, as you say, procedures need to be clarified.
Meanwhile (not making this up) at least one MAGA House member has called for the impeachment of Austin.
He went straight into the ICU on the return so... maybe he didn't have a chance?
At some point late in childhood, I tired of people hiding illness or refusing to discuss it, because I understood that it stigmatizes illness and makes people from getting support and, in some cases, treatment.
So I swore to myself I would not be quiet about my illnesses.
When I got rectal cancer, I stuck to my promise, and I blabbed about it to anyone and everyone ad nauseam: "I have rectal cancer, a tumor the size of half a ping-pong ball just below where the colon makes that hard left turn into the rectum. It's probably not particularly invasive, since the tumor isn't that firmly attached - the gastroenterologist said he could rock it back and forth with the scope, so it's only attached by a thin stalk, and there isn't the ulceration associated with more advanced adenocarcinomas."
During chemo, I shared stories of my swollen feet and hands sloughing off skin, of boogers the size of pistachio halves, and other graphic details.
A couple of friends avoided me for a while.
(I'll probably survive this: I had a strong response to chemotherapy - tumor disappeared, leaving only scar tissue in the wall of the rectum, 2 biopsy samples were non-cancerous - and MRI now suggests that the 2 suspicious lymph nodes are no longer cancerous, if they ever were. Looks as if I got lucky. Will have surgery soon to remove the site of the cancer and send to pathology.)
I want to know where our squeamishness and shame at admitting illness comes from. Is it a Protestant thing - pretend you're robust and wealthy because Calvinism - or a Christian thing, left over from 2000 years of shaming and self-hatred? Or does this go deeper, into our primate ancestry?
I have no idea, but note that cats will hide their suffering, probably because they're solitary animals, and showing weakness makes them into prey. American men (at least until recently) have fetishized their "independence" and "self reliance" and mocked "it takes a village" and "reaching out" and all that librul-pussy carp.
Maybe Mr Austin is from that generation.
I did the same thing with my anal cancer. Man, it was hard to put that out there. But for all the reasons listed above, I wanted to make sure people got in for the breast, pap, and colon exams because that's how you catch these early when they're most treatable.
I shared out the entire diagnostic process, the MRI's, the treatment plan, the how radiation works, how chemo works, and especially that everyone with kids needed to get them HPV vaccinated to avoid cancers like mine. People at my job would email me privately and stop me in the hall to tell me how brave I was and they could never have done what I did so publicly. One person went in for a colonoscopy that they'd been putting off because of my hammering on it. At least two people got their kids vaccinated for HPV because I hammered on it.
I get why he hid it, but wish that he'd been brave enough to put it out there and bring the entire military with him on the journey. Imagine the lives he could have saved by opening up.
As one to the president’s top advisors in a time with several military conflicts going on and American troops at risk he owed it to the President and his deputy to inform them of his need for the original procedure. Yes he had prostate cancer but that surgery is almost never an emergency procedure. And if by chance the prostate surgery were deemed an emergency it would not have been described as a minor “outpatient” procedure—though he apparently stayed overnight. And hiding his admission for a life threatening (in an ICU) complication show further bad judgement.
I don’t have a clue whether he should resign or not.
I have an uncle who was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was so uncomfortable to deal with it that he didn't and died a couple years later.