Donald Trump's Recent MRI At 'Routine Checkup' Has People Questioning His Health

Getting an annual medical checkup allows you to catch potential problems early or detect existing diseases, conditions, and disorders. Unfortunately, a 2023 Ipsos survey found that 45% of women skip yearly checkups and related healthcare visits. And men aren't necessarily doing much better: According to a 2022 Harris poll (via Medical News Today), 33% of men don't feel compelled to make annual doctor visits.

That said, some people prioritize their health enough to schedule normal exams and physicals, including U.S. president Donald Trump. (In fact, his first 2025 physical showed Trump had lost weight.) However, an October medical visit that was referred to as a "semi-annual" physical has raised some eyebrows — and questions. Trump mentioned that he underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan during his routine visit. This lines up with what his physician, Captain Dr. Sean Barbabella, reported about the examination in an official letter (via The Hill). Yet MRIs typically aren't used in preventative capacities. Instead, they're relied upon to help diagnose or rule out suspected concerns, which is why Trump's MRI seems out of place.

Numerous personalities took to social media to question Trump's need for an MRI during a general medical checkup. For instance, democratic influencer Harry Sisson noted on X that MRIs are typically used "for diagnosing serious conditions." Actor Morgan Freeman tweeted likewise, adding that MRIs aren't part of biannual physicals.

But could an MRI be useful as part of an annual, biannual, or semiannual physical? Yes, but it's probably unnecessary, according to a 2019 review in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Preventive MRIs were found to run a high risk of providing both false-positive and false-negative results. (That is, patients were told they likely had or didn't have a condition even though the opposite was true.) The authors concluded that whole-body MRIs didn't make sense during preventive screenings of asymptomatic individuals.

That said, some experts are open to MRIs during screenings. In a 2025 interview with Prevention, radiologist Dr. Mia Kazanjian noted that preventive MRIs could be beneficial for high-risk patients "with a strong family history of cancer and/or genetic mutations," but clarified that due to its high rate of false positives that would entail further expenses, it would be quite costly for the average person to undergo regularly. That said, a good reason to have an MRI would be to get clarity on suspected issues (e.g., compromised blood flow, tumors, anomalies) within the brain, spine, heart, bones, and other body parts.

Except for well-controlled high cholesterol and a diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, Trump's team has not suggested he has any urgent health concerns that might warrant an MRI scan. On the contrary, the official White House X account declared that Dr. Barbabella called the president's health "excellent."