Lloyd Austin Cancer Surgery Admission Raises Eyebrows

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is taking heat after Tuesday’s announcement about his surgery for prostate cancer.

Doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center said his recent secretive hospitalization was for surgery and later to treat a urinary tract infection related to the operation.

Austin, 70, went to the hospital for what the Pentagon press secretary called an “elective procedure” on December 22, which left many on X, formerly Twitter, puzzled about Tuesday’s announcement.

“Their original spin was that it was elective surgery. But nope. It was for prostate cancer,” conservative commentator Erick Erickson posted. “Lloyd Austin underwent general anesthesia and his gut call was to keep it from the Commander-in-Chief. I pray he recovers, but Austin shows a pattern of making the wrong gut calls time and time again. He should be fired.”

Journalist Greta Van Susteren posted: “Even though Sec of Defense Austin was not under general anesthesia in the ICU per Walter Reed Hospital, my guess is that with an extreme pain, you get pretty strong pain pills. That would not be the best time for Sec of Defense to be in charge of the military. The responsibilities should have been passed sooner to his deputy.”

Four Republican members of Congress are among those calling for Austin’s resignation.

Newsweek reached out to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the White House via email for comment.

Johns Hopkins Medicine states that elective surgery “does not always mean it is optional. It simply means that the surgery can be scheduled in advance. It may be a surgery you choose to have for a better quality of life, but not for a life-threatening condition. But in some cases, it may be for a serious condition such as cancer. Examples of elective surgery include removing a mole or wart and having kidney stones removed. It may also be done if other forms of treatment are not working.”

Doctors said Austin’s prostate cancer was detected early, and his prognosis is excellent.

“It seems, frankly, like you were deceived by telling everyone that it was an elective medical procedure,” a reporter said to Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Patrick Ryder during a press conference after Tuesday’s announcement. “It doesn’t seem to be elective if he had prostate cancer and this was treating it.”

Ryder responded: “I’m not a medical professional. We could have done a better job last week. We have this information now from these medical professionals, and that will go a long way in helping us understand this situation and what needs to be done moving forward.”

The Pentagon said it is reviewing its notification process for future cases.

Later Tuesday, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that President Joe Biden “was not informed until last Friday that Secretary Austin was in the hospital. He was not informed until this morning [Tuesday] that the root cause of that hospitalization was prostate cancer.”

According to the doctors, Austin’s cancer was detected during a December screening. They said he “underwent a minimally invasive surgical procedure” on December 22 and went home the next day. The Walter Reed statement said Austin developed the urinary tract infection a week after surgery.

He reportedly transferred some of his authority to a deputy after experiencing severe pain and being taken back to Walter Reed by ambulance and put into intensive care on January 1.

However, senior administration and defense officials were not told for days about his hospitalization or his cancer. The White House was reportedly not informed Austin was in the hospital until January 4, and the public didn’t learn of it until a day later.

Also Tuesday, White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients ordered Cabinet members or secretaries to notify his office if they ever can’t perform their duties.

In a memo to Cabinet secretaries obtained by the Associated Press, Zients directed them to send the White House any existing procedures for delegating authority in the event of incapacitation or loss of communication by Friday.

While the review is ongoing, Zients said in the memo that agencies must notify his office and the office of Cabinet affairs if an agency experiences or plans to experience a circumstance in which a Cabinet head can’t perform their duties.