Doctors who have treated the President of the United States have had a variety of titles. Dr. Presley Marion Rixey, a Medical Inspector in the United States Navy, was the first individual to serve in a full-time capacity as physician to the President beginning in 1901, although the title "White House Physician" was not used until created by an act of Congress in 1928.
Organization and role
The White House physician has an office inside the White House. The location of his or her medical unit plays an important role in keeping the President of the United States healthy. He or she also oversees a staff which is typically composed of five military physicians, five nurses, five physician assistants, three medics, three administrators and one IT Manager. The WhiteHouse Physician is metaphorically the "shadow of the President" because he or she is always close at hand whether the President is at the White House, overseas, on the campaign trail, or aboard presidential plane Air Force One; Daniel Ruge, for example, was nearby during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, and supervised the president's immediate treatment. The Physician to the President protects the president's health and may also perform emergency surgery. The White House doctor is also responsible for providing comprehensive medical care to the members of the president's immediate family, the Vice President, and the Vice President's family. He or she may also provide medical care and attention to the more than 1.5 million visitors who tour the White House each year, as well as to international dignitaries and other guests of the President. The medical office of the White House doctor is a "mini urgent-care center" containing a physician's office, private examination rooms, basic medications and medical supplies, and a crash cart for emergency resuscitation. Air Force One is equipped with emergency medical equipment, an operating table, and operating room lights installed at the center of the presidential plane for emergency use by the White House doctor, but does not have an X-ray machine or medical laboratory equipment. Ruge resigned after Reagan's first term and called his job "vastly overrated, boring and not medically challenging". Ruge could not attend most state dinners due to lack of space. He nonetheless had to be ready for emergencies, and usually waited alone in his office wearing a tuxedo. Ruge stated that an advantage, however, was that because of the position's prestige " president's physician can ask for anything, and he will get it. No doctor will refuse a request to consult". The White House physician can enter the Oval Office or Executive Residence at any time; Ruge sometimes invited experts visiting Washington to examine the president.
Selection of the physician
The White House Physician is often selected personally by the President, and most White House doctors are active-duty military officers, in part because most civilians would find closing and then later reopening their private practices difficult. , CommanderSean Conley, DO, USN, is the incumbent White House physician.
White House physicians
Some of the individuals who have acted as White House physicians:
1789: Samuel Bard, MD. Bard was the first physician known to have treated a president when he lanced a boil on George Washington's thigh.
1789 to 1797: James Craig. Craig was a family friend of George Washington's.
