US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Washington, February 1, 2024. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds, AFP)
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been admitted to intensive care with a bladder problem, the Pentagon announced on the evening of February 11.
Austin, whose recent secret hospitalizations for prostate cancer have sparked strong controversy in the country, has delegated his duties to deputy Kathleen Hicks.
“This evening, after a series of tests, the Secretary of Defense was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,” the Pentagon said in a statement, after informing the White House and Congress.
“It is currently unclear how long he will be hospitalized,” said doctors John Maddox and Gregory Chesnut. “The bladder problem is not expected to compromise his full recovery, and the prognosis for the cancer remains excellent.”
On February 1, during a press conference, Austin, 70, apologized for keeping his prostate cancer diagnosis a secret.
In the year of the presidential election and at a time when conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East were raging, Austin had undergone surgery and was hospitalized twice between December and January without President Joe Biden knowing anything about it.
“It was a mistake,” Austin admitted during the press conference. “I should have informed the president of the diagnosis. I should have also informed my colleagues and US citizens. I apologize to everyone.”
However, Austin had assured that there had been no power vacuum at the Pentagon.
The affair had pushed the Republican Party to ask for his resignation, but Biden had confirmed his confidence in him.