Biden’s Doctor Ducks House Deposition by Citing Doctor-Patient Confidentiality, Pleading the Fifth

AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Former President Joe Biden’s longtime physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor exited a House Oversight Committee deposition Wednesday after citing federally protected doctor-patient privilege and pleading the Fifth Amendment as he declined to answer questions about Biden’s health.

The deposition was part of a broader Republican-led probe into Biden’s mental acuity during his tenure in office. The committee is also investigating whether anyone else was authorized to use autopen to sign executive orders and presidential pardons. O’Connor was issued a subpoena last month, forcing the physician to testify as part of the committee’s probe.

During the deposition, Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) read aloud the first two questions posed to the doctor: “Were you ever told to lie about the president’s health?” and “Did you ever believe President Biden was unfit to execute his duties?”

In both cases, O’Connor invoked his constitutional rights and defended the privacy of his patient.

In a statement the doctor’s legal team said:

Earlier today, Dr. Kevin O’Connor asserted the physician-patient privilege, as well as his right under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, in declining to answer questions from the staff of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform regarding his service as Physician to the President during the Biden Administration.

On the advice of his legal counsel, Dr. O’Connor refused to answer questions that invaded the well-established legal privilege that protects confidential matters between physicians and their patients. His assertion of his right under the Fifth Amendment to decline to answer questions, also on the advice of his lawyers, was made necessary by the unique circumstances of this deposition.

O’Connor’s decision, however, has only deepened Republican suspicions.

After the truncated session, Comer took to X to allege that it was “now clear there was a conspiracy to cover up President Biden’s cognitive decline.”

Inside the deposition room, O’Connor’s attorney David Schertler delivered a written statement condemning the committee’s stance on doctor-patient confidentiality.

The panel, he said, made clear that “it does not intend to honor one of the most well-known privileges in our law – the physician patient privilege… Revealing confidential patient information would violate the most fundamental ethical duty of a physician, could result in revocation of Dr. O’Connor’s medical license, and would subject Dr. O’Connor to potential civil liability.”

According to The Hill, Schertler also pointed to President Donald Trump’s directive for the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into Biden’s mental fitness, suggesting the Oversight Committee should hold off on its own inquiry until any criminal probe concludes.

As for O’Connor’s refusal to answer questions, Schertler emphasized that invoking the Fifth “does not imply that Dr. O’Connor has committed any crime.”