logo
House Oversight Chair Comer subpoenas Biden doctor

House Oversight Chair Comer subpoenas Biden doctor

Yahoo2 days ago

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a subpoena on Thursday for testimony from former President Biden's White House doctor, Kevin O'Connor.
It's Comer's latest move to expand his panel's probes into Biden's mental acuity.
'Among other subjects, the Committee expressed its interest in whether your financial relationship with the Biden family affected your assessment of former President Biden's physical and mental fitness to fulfill his duties as President,' Comer said in a letter accompanying the subpoena. 'Given your connections with the Biden family, the Committee sought to understand if you contributed to an effort to hide former President Biden's fitness to serve from the American people.'
The subpoena dictates that O'Connor appear for testimony at a deposition on June 27, and comes after O'Connor had declined Comer's request to voluntarily appear before the committee.
O'Connor's attorneys previously told the committee that the denial to appear was due in part to a D.C. code concerning physicians disclosing patient information to a court without consent, 'ethical obligations pursuant to 'Principal No. IV of the Code of Ethics of the American Medical Association (AMA),'' and 'physician-patient privilege,' according to the letter from Comer.
'These arguments lack merit,' Comer wrote.
'Congress is not a court; this Section therefore in no way precludes you from appearing and testifying regarding your role as Physician to former President Biden,' the letter said.
O'Connor's attorney David Schertler told The Hill in a statement: 'We just received the correspondence and subpoena from the House Oversight Committee this afternoon. We will review it carefully and respond to Chairman Comer after we have had a chance to do so.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

AMA: Doctors And Patients Hurt By ‘Big Beautiful Bill'
AMA: Doctors And Patients Hurt By ‘Big Beautiful Bill'

Forbes

time17 minutes ago

  • Forbes

AMA: Doctors And Patients Hurt By ‘Big Beautiful Bill'

The American Medical Association says legislation wending its way through the Republican-controlled ... More Congress would 'take us backward' as a country by cutting health benefits for poor and low-income Americans, the group's president said Friday, June 6. In this photo, the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, June 3, 2025. Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg The American Medical Association says legislation wending its way through the Republican-controlled Congress would 'take us backward' as a country by cutting health benefits for poor and low-income Americans. Meeting for its annual policy-making House of Delegates this weekend in Chicago, the AMA is rallying physicians to thwart the legislation now before the U.S. Senate. Legislation known as the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' that narrowly passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives two weeks ago 'would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $793 billion and that the Medicaid provisions would increase the number of uninsured people by 7.8 million,' a KFF analysis shows. 'We have to turn our anger into action,' AMA President Bruce A. Scott, M.D. said in a speech to AMA delegates Friday. 'I know our patience is being tested by this new administration and Congress.' The AMA said it has launched a 'grassroots campaign targeted at the Senate' in hopes of making changes to the legislation. The AMA is the nation's largest physician group with more than 200,000 members. 'The same House bill that brings us closer to finally tying future Medicare payments to the rising costs of running a practice, also takes us backwards by limiting access to care for millions of lower-income Americans,' Scott said. 'Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act are literal lifelines for children and families for whom subsidized health coverage is their only real option. We must do all we can to protect this safety net and continue to educate lawmakers on how best to target waste and fraud in the system without making it tougher for vulnerable populations to access care.' Scott, an otolaryngologist from Kentucky, said the Medicare physician payment system is broken and Congress hasn't addressed – as an increasing number of states have – prior authorization, the process of health insurers reviewing hospital admissions and medications. Prior authorization delays needed treatment and puts patient health in jeopardy, doctors say. 'I'm angry because the dysfunction in health care today goes hand in hand with years of dysfunction in Congress,' Scott added. 'I'm angry because physicians are bearing the brunt of a failed Medicare payment system. And while our pay has been cut by more than 33 percent in 25 years, we see hospitals and even health insurance companies receiving annual pay increases.' Meanwhile, the AMA says cuts to physician payments are pushing more physicians away from private practice and exacerbating the nation's doctor shortage. A recent analysis by AMN Healthcare shows only two in five physicians are now in doctor-owned private practices. And Americans in most U.S. cities face waits of at least one month before they can see certain specialists. 'Congress needs to know there is no 'care' in Medicare if there are no doctors," Scott said.

Survey: Russians now see Germany, not US, as most hostile country
Survey: Russians now see Germany, not US, as most hostile country

Yahoo

time21 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Survey: Russians now see Germany, not US, as most hostile country

Germany is now considered the most hostile country towards Russia, a survey conducted by the independent Moscow-based polling institute Levada showed. The survey found that 55% of respondents named Germany as the most unfriendly state - a 40 percentage point increase since May 2020. In contrast, the United States, which held the top position for two decades, was named by only 40% of respondents, compared to 76% last year. This shift is attributed to the revival of Russian-American relations under US President Donald Trump, the institute said. Germany, however, has faced increasing criticism from the Russian leadership, particularly due to its arms deliveries to Ukraine, which has been under attack by Russia. The tone has notably hardened since Chancellor Friedrich Merz took office last month. The United Kingdom ranked second among countries perceived as hostile to Russia, with 49% of respondents, followed by Ukraine at 43%. Best Friends: Belarus and China The representative survey also asked Russians to name the five countries they associate as having the closest and friendliest relations with Russia. Belarus topped the list with 80% of respondents, followed by China with two-thirds. Kazakhstan ranked third with 36%, followed by India with 32% and North Korea at 30%. The results reflect the Kremlin's official policy of dividing the world into friendly and unfriendly states since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Germany, which was long one of the main buyers of Russian gas in the European Union, has faced criticism in Moscow for its military support for Ukraine. The representative survey was conducted between May 22 and May 28, with 1,613 people aged 18 and older participating, Levada said.

Trump stokes fear, confusion with pulled emergency abortion guidance
Trump stokes fear, confusion with pulled emergency abortion guidance

Yahoo

time31 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Trump stokes fear, confusion with pulled emergency abortion guidance

The Trump administration sowed confusion and fear among physicians with its move this past week to rescind Biden-era guidelines to hospitals that provide life-saving abortions. While the move doesn't change the law, doctors and reproductive-rights advocates fear it will have a chilling effect on health care workers in states with abortion bans, ultimately harming pregnant women. Earlier this past week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced they would rescind guidance issued during the Biden administration, which reinforced to hospitals that under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA,) abortions qualify as stabilizing care in medical emergencies. Emergency rooms in states with abortion bans have been struggling since the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade to understand when they can legally provide emergency abortions. After President Trump pulled the Biden-era guidance seeking to clarify that question, emergency room doctors will experience 'more confusion' and 'more fear,' according to health and legal experts who spoke with The Hill. 'Clinicians are scared to provide basic medical care, and this care is clearly in line with medical ethics … medical standards of care, and they're being put in this situation where they can't win,' said Payal Shah, director of research, legal and advocacy at Physicians for Human Rights. Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, at least 13 states have enacted near-total abortion bans, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute. There are exceptions in these states when continuing a pregnancy poses a threat to the health or life of the mother. However, most of the language in state laws is unclear on how that determination is made, resulting in instances of emergency rooms denying care. Doctors in states like Idaho, Texas and Tennessee have filed lawsuits requesting that lawmakers clarify when an abortion is allowed to save the life of a pregnant person. The doctors and patients involved in the lawsuits argue that state laws do not adequately protect pregnant patients in emergencies. Many of these states have severe punishments for doctors who violate abortion bans, like steep fines and prison time. 'For clinicians, there is actually no safe way to navigate this in this moment, and ultimately, that's how these laws are designed,' Shah said. 'They're designed to cause chaos and confusion. They're often written in ways that don't use medical terminology.' Without clear guidance, pregnant women suffer and sometimes die, as ProPublica has reported. One striking example of this is the 2023 case of Kyleigh Thurman, a Texas woman who was repeatedly denied care for a nonviable pregnancy after days of experiencing bleeding and pain. Health care workers discovered that she had an ectopic pregnancy, which is when a fertilized egg implants and begins to grow outside of the uterus, usually in a fallopian tube. Ectopic pregnancies are never viable and are life-threatening if not treated properly. It wasn't until her OB/GYN 'pleaded to hospital staff that she be given care,' that the hospital administered a shot ending her pregnancy, according to a complaint filed by the Center for Reproductive Rights on behalf of Thurman. The shot came too late, and the ectopic pregnancy ruptured Thurman's right fallopian tube, which was then removed. 'If a patient is actively hemorrhaging or experiencing an ectopic pregnancy which is also life-threatening, doctors need that clear guidance that yes, EMTALA applied,' said Autumn Katz, associate director of U.S. litigation at the Center for Reproductive Rights. A federal investigation into Thurman's case found that the Texas hospital violated EMTALA, according to a recent letter from the CMS. 'I finally got some justice,' Thurman said in a statement. 'I hope this decision will do some good in encouraging hospitals to help women in situations like mine.' Hospitals that violate EMTALA are subject to heavy fines and, in some extreme cases, risk losing a portion of their Medicare and Medicaid hospital funding, according to the National Institutes of Health. Former President Biden leaned on the law to preserve access to emergency abortion across the country, leading to a legal fight with Idaho, which has a strict abortion ban. The Supreme Court last year dismissed the case, declining to rule on the merits of a politically charged case. The rescinding of these guidelines also means hospitals that violate the law will likely not be investigated as often as they were under previous administrations, according to Shah. That lack of punitive risk means that hospitals could be incentivized to deny life-saving care for patients. 'The standard of EMTALA is pretty high,' said Katherine Hempstead, senior policy adviser at Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 'This kind of takes that layer of reassurance away, and it will make a lot of providers feel very vulnerable.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store