Interesting article from today's New York Times:
‘Is he sicker than we’re hearing?’ Outside experts weigh in on Trump’s condition
In photos and videos released by the White House, there has been hardly any sign that President Trump is sick, and painting in the broadest of strokes, his doctors have offered a fairly rosy portrait of his condition. But to some outside experts who examined that portrait closely, some things seemed off.
How much, for example, should people make of the president’s fluctuating oxygen levels? And why did his doctors decide to begin treatment with a steroid drug?
To some infectious disease experts, there were signs that Mr. Trump may be suffering a more severe case of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, than his physicians have acknowledged.
“This is no longer aspirationally positive,” Dr. Esther Choo, a professor of emergency medicine at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, said of the doctors’ statements. “And it’s much more than just an ‘abundance of caution’ kind of thing.”
Based on his doctors’ account, Mr. Trump’s symptoms appear to have rapidly progressed since he announced early Friday that he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Mr. Trump had a “high fever” on Friday, and his blood oxygen levels dropped on two occasions, his doctors said, including to a level that can indicate that a patient’s lungs are compromised. The symptom is seen in many patients with severe Covid-19.
The president’s medical team also said that he had been prescribed dexamethasone. This is a steroid used to head off an immune system overreaction that kills many Covid-19 patients. And it is generally reserved for those with severe illness.
“The dexamethasone is the most mystifying of the drugs we’re seeing him being given at this point,” said Dr. Thomas McGinn, a top physician at Northwell Health, the largest health care provider in New York State.
The drug, he said, was normally not used unless the patient’s condition seemed to be deteriorating.
“Suddenly, they’re throwing the kitchen sink at him,” Dr. McGinn said. “It raises the question: Is he sicker than we’re hearing, or are they being overly aggressive because he is the president, in a way that could be potentially harmful?”
Of course, given the patient, there may be another explanation.
Some experts raised an additional possibility: that the president is directing his own care, and demanding intense treatment despite risks he may not fully understand. The pattern even has a name: V.I.P. syndrome.