Senator Rand Paul questions the diagnosis put forward about Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s episodes ‘freezes’ that have happened recently. He isn’t buying the Capitol Hill physician’s report that lays the blame on dehydration.

Rand Paul is an ophthalmologist who has practiced medicine for more than 25 years. Dr. Brian Monahan said that there is no evidence that McConnell had a stroke or seizure. Paul said it looks like a “focal neurological event.”

“I’ve practiced medicine for 25 years, and it doesn’t look like dehydration to me,” Paul told a group of reporters. “It looks like a focal neurologic event. That doesn’t mean it’s incapacitating, doesn’t mean he can’t serve. But it means that somebody ought to wake up and say, ‘Wow, this looks like a seizure.’”

Rand Paul went on to say it doesn’t mean that McConnell can’t serve. Paul is the junior senator from Kentucky, McConnell the senior senator. It was a little unusual for Rand to speak out publicly with disagreement about the severity of McConnell’s situation. So far, I have not seen any of the other senators who are also physicians speak out publicly to dispute Dr. Monahan’s report. There are several Republican senators who are physicians.

“I have consulted with Leader McConnell and conferred with his neurology team. After evaluating yesterday’s incident, I have informed Leader McConnell that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned,” Monahan wrote in a note last week.

Dr. Monahan’s note cleared McConnell, who is 81-years-old, to go back to work, which was essentially the purpose of the note. McConnell can hold up that note and confirm that he can continue on as normal. Monahan attributes McConnell’s two public freezes as part of his recovery process. He was hospitalized in March after he fell during an event and suffered a concussion and minor rib fracture. He returned to the Senate a month later. McConnell had a freeze while answering questions from reporters in the Capitol and then he had a second public freeze in Kentucky last week, again while answering questions from reporters. Monahan sticks with dehydration as the main culprit.

Brian Monahan, a Navy rear admiral who has served as the doctor for lawmakers and Supreme Court justices since 2009, consulted with McConnell and his neurology team afterward, according to a letter released by the minority leader’s office on Thursday. He decided that McConnell could continue his schedule, attributing the episode to the lingering effects of a concussion he suffered earlier this year.

“After evaluating yesterday’s incident, I have informed Leader McConnell that he is medically clear to continue with his schedule as planned,” Monahan said in the letter. “Occasional lightheadedness is not uncommon in concussion recovery and can also be expected as a result of dehydration.”

McConnell addressed questions about his health with the press on Wednesday. He didn’t really go into it but he referenced the letter from Monahan. He said Monahan’s letter speaks for itself. True enough but it would probably put more minds to rest on the subject if his neurologists released a statement.

I think McConnell should be thinking about retiring but if he wants to serve out the rest of his term, so be it. That’s his choice. He’s able to do the job, apparently, though there is an occasional freeze for a few seconds. I don’t want to hear demands that he resign when Democrats turn a blind eye to Senator John Fetterman. He, too, has neurological issues. He’s been welcomed back when he goes away for a while to battle clinical depression, for example. Special measures have been taken so that he can do his job in the Senate. McConnell has a more important position than Fetterman. I’m fine with McConnell leaving on his own terms.

Let the Democrats call for Fetterman or Feinstein or Biden to step down. They have plenty on their side to deal with on mental acuity issues.