DAmerican Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been transferred to the intensive care unit after being admitted to a military hospital near Washington. After a series of tests and examinations, he will continue to be cared for and monitored closely, the hospital said in a statement on Sunday evening (local time).
Doctors added that the current bladder problem is not expected to affect his expected full recovery. The prognosis for his cancer remains excellent. At this point, it is not clear how long the 70-year-old minister will stay in the hospital.
Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder initially announced that Austin had been taken to a military hospital near Washington with symptoms of an acute bladder problem. He has the necessary means of communication with him to carry out his tasks from the hospital. A few hours later it was said that deputy Kathleen Hicks had taken over his duties.
Austin only returned to work at the Pentagon at the end of January after a lengthy period of illness. At the beginning of the year he came under heavy criticism for keeping secret his diagnosis of prostate cancer and a hospital stay following complications from a procedure.
Even US President Joe Biden did not know for several days that his minister was in the hospital, but later confirmed that he wanted to stick with him. Austin was released from the hospital on January 15th and initially did not work from the Pentagon.
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men in the United States after nonmelanoma skin cancer. In the early stages, the chances of recovery are generally good. The prostate – also known as the prostate gland – is an organ the size of a walnut that surrounds the base of the urethra in men.