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title: Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat
description: The motorcade traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Saturday afternoon
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article:published_time: 2014-12-06T20:43:29.000Z
article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T22:18:14.000Z
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# Obama Visits Hospital For Sore Throat

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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.”

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