Austin Story

To be honest about this story....it's not on my top 500 list, but I sat and pondered upon it.

So we have the Secretary of Defense (Lloyd Austin) who quietly (for a minimum of 3 days) got sent to a hospital on 1 Jan...."due to complications following a recent elective medical procedure.” 

Telling the President?  Well....you'd think this would be one of those key things that someone would convey to your boss.  But as the story goes....President Biden wasn't told until around the 4th day.

What was the elective medical procedure?  That part is left to you guess upon.  Wart removal?  Well....I doubt it.  

Removing tonsils?  Hernia repair?  Cosmetic surgery?  

There's probably a list of three-hundred things that would be a day of 'repair' and then check-out by 5 PM.  So you are left to guess this.  I'm guessing....hernia issues, and the surgery didn't go as planned.

A big deal?  No....if you asked a hundred guys who've had modern-era hernia situation...99 will say it went as the doctor described, and one guy will say that he spent a night or two in the hospital.

How many folks go and have this done on 1 January?  Well....I just can't think of many doctors who do elective surgery on a holiday.  If you really wanted to hide the issue....I agree....maybe on the 26th of December, I would have had this done and been back at work by the 2nd of January.

People wanting privacy on their medical situation?  That's really the big issue.  There are certain people who would blab to ten-thousand folks about having such-and-such medical business....wanting sympathy or gossip.  I doubt that Austin wanted any chatter about his situation and figured not mentioning this to Biden was legit.