President Barack Obama underwent a CT scan on Saturday because of a sore throat, and one reporter is wondering why a minor symptom warranted such a test.
Fox News reporter Ed Henry asked White House press secretary Josh Earnest about it during the Monday press briefing.
"Most people who have a sore throat do not get a CT scan," Henry said,
according to Breitbart.com
.
Replied Earnest: "Most people are not the president of the United States."
Earnest said Obama's doctor felt the CT scan was needed after he had been complaining of a sore throat for a couple weeks.
The diagnosis was nothing too serious, however. Doctors at Walter Reed Medical Center concluded
Obama was suffering from acid reflux, a condition in which the stomach contents flow back up from the stomach into the esophagus, causing such symptoms as heartburn and sore throat.
"The president's symptoms are consistent with soft tissue inflammation related to acid reflux and will be treated accordingly," Obama's doctor, Capt. Ronny Jackson, said in a statement.
"The CT scan was conducted [Saturday] afternoon purely as a matter of convenience for the president's schedule. The CT scan was normal."
Smoking, alcohol use, and hiatal hernia are risk factors for acid reflux. Obama is a former smoker.
In June, the president was given a clean bill of health after undergoing his annual physical.
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