--- title: Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat description: The motorcade traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Saturday afternoon canonical: https://time.com/3621966/president-obama-hospital-sore-throat/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-06T20:43:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T22:18:14.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat og:description: The motorcade traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Saturday afternoon og:url: https://time.com/3621966/president-obama-hospital-sore-throat/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat twitter:description: The motorcade traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Saturday afternoon twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:18 PM UTCPublished: Dec 6, 2014 8:43 PM UTC by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 10:18 PM UTCPublished: Dec 6, 2014 8:43 PM UTC President Barack Obama made an unscheduled visit to the hospital Saturday afternoon for diagnostic tests on his sore throat. Obama’s motorcade left the White House shortly after 2 p.m. for a thirty-minute drive to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that Obama had been complaining of a sore throat, and that Capt. Ronny Jackson, the President’s physician, recommended he visit the hospital for some diagnostic tests. Dr. Jackson, Earnest told reporters, characterized the test as “a matter of convenience for the President, not a matter of urgency.” Physician to the President and Director of the White House Medical Unit Ronny L. Jackson said in a statement later Saturday afternoon that the after being examined at Walter Reed, it was determined that the “President’s symptoms are consistent with soft tissue inflammation related to acid reflux and will be treated accordingly.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3621966/president-obama-hospital-sore-throat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3621966/president-obama-hospital-sore-throat/"},"headline":"Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat","datePublished":"2014-12-06T20:43:29.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T22:18:14.000Z","description":"The motorcade traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Saturday afternoon","url":"https://time.com/3621966/president-obama-hospital-sore-throat/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","President","illness","hospital","Josh Earnest"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3621966/president-obama-hospital-sore-throat/","name":"Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat"}}]}] ```