Does the US President get sick leave?

25th Amendment

Of course, US presidents are people too, often even old people. So they get sick, often very sick. So what happens when a US president gets sick? That is stipulated in the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution. Accordingly, when the president is so ill that he cannot perform the necessary duties, the vice president can become “acting president” until the president can perform the duties. This is the mechanism for the president to take sick leave if they want.

The amendment also notes that in the event the president is unwilling to relinquish power even though he is unable to discharge the powers and duties, the vice president is simply to “occupy the office” until the president is able to discharge the duties.

Although many US presidents have had serious health problems and have often been incapacitated while in office, only two presidents have actually used the 25th Amendment in the first half-century since its ratification.

The first president to use it was Ronald Reagan on July 13, 1985, when he temporarily handed over power to Vice President George Bush while he underwent surgery for colon cancer. Bush then had eight hours as president before Reagan returned to the office after recovering.

Before handing over the presidency to Mr. Bush at 11:28 a.m., Mr. Reagan spent the morning working as usual. After becoming president again at 7:22 p.m., he spent the evening catching up on everything that had happened during his eight hours of surgery and recovery.

In 2002 and late 2007, President George W. Bush delegated authority to his deputy to perform colonoscopies. Each time, Vice President Dick Cheney acted as acting president for just over two hours and handed over power when Bush returned to work. During his eight years as president, Bush had only four hours off duty.

This is surprising news because a high percentage of US presidents have been seriously ill during their time in office. The most well-known case is President Woodrow Wilson, who suffered a severe stroke in 1919 that temporarily paralyzed the left side of his body. He also became blind in his left eye and had reduced vision in his right. President Wilson's mental state at the time is unknown because his wife, Edith, and physician, Cary Grayson, kept it secret.

So how did President Wilson run the country under such circumstances? Actually, he did nothing. His wife decided what information was passed to him and what issues she delegated directly to others. She also forbade anyone from directly approaching the president for several weeks after his stroke. The only exception was Dr. Grayson.

Edith later said that she had studied every document sent to the president by ministers and senators. She insisted that she had never made any decisions on public matters on behalf of her husband. However, this has not been confirmed.

Wilson recovered over the next year and a half, but questions remained about whether he was mentally and physically fit to continue as president. Wilson refused to relinquish power, however, and this was a key point of discussion when the 25th Amendment was drafted decades later.

Before and after President Wilson, there were several presidents who suffered from various degrees of illness. Most notably, President Dwight E. Eisenhower suffered a severe heart attack and subsequent stroke while in office. He also had to have about 25cm of his small intestine removed due to complications from inflammatory bowel disease.

During that time, Mr. Eisenhower took a few days off sick and asked Attorney General Herbert Brownell Jr. to draft a document transferring some powers and duties to Vice President Richard Nixon.

Other presidents have done the same when necessary. However, they have always done so in secret so that the public does not know about their health problems. President Eisenhower broke the trend of secrecy and sought to set a precedent by making it official.

In fact, Article II, Section 1, Section 6 of the US Constitution allows for such a transfer of power, but the wording is vague, leaving it unclear whether the vice president would actually have the same powers as the president in this case. Many problems can arise, especially in an emergency.

President Kennedy's Health

The issue was raised again during the presidency of John F. Kennedy, who was a symbol of vigor, youth, and health. But it turned out that it was Kennedy himself who needed a team of doctors to support him throughout his presidency, a fact that has only recently become known to the public.

President Kennedy had many health problems, all serious. The first was the life-threatening Addison's disease, a condition in which the adrenal glands do not produce enough hormones.

Then there was osteoporosis, which left President Kennedy with three fractured vertebrae in his back. He also suffered from irritable bowel syndrome, which caused severe abdominal pain and frequent dangerous diarrhea. He also suffered from hypothyroidism.

To treat all of these illnesses, President Kennedy had to take thyroid hormones, Ritalin, anesthetic sleeping pills, Demerol, sedatives, countless anti-diarrheal drugs and antibiotics, and more than 10 other types of drugs.

Many medications can affect mood and decision-making. However, without them, President Kennedy would collapse from pain. According to political adviser Dave Powers, even when on medication, Kennedy always had to walk on crutches. When out of the public eye, he would grind his teeth in pain. But when he appeared in public, he walked straight, smiled, and looked as healthy as a world champion weightlifter. Then Dave Powers had to help the President into the car.

However, it was not President Kennedy's illness that was the catalyst for the drafting of the 25th Amendment, but his shooting. At that point, a question arose: What would have happened if Kennedy had lived but been brain dead?

A year and a half after Kennedy's assassination, in July 1965, Congress sent the 25th Amendment to the states for ratification, and on February 10, 1967, the Amendment took effect. The summary of the amendment is that presidents do not have sick days, but the 25th Amendment gives them a mechanism to take sick days if they feel they are unable to perform their presidential duties. However, almost no US president in history has ever used the 25th Amendment, except for the two cases mentioned above, Ronald Reagan and George Bush. As for the rest, they tend to hide their illness from the public, finding ways to arrange their work so that they can rest a little.

According to Tin Tuc Newspaper