Beau Biden, U.S. vice president's son, hospitalized

[Demeter]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/19/us-usa-biden-son-idUSKBN0O42OM20150519

Beau Biden, a son of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, has been hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center outside Washington, the vice president's office said on Tuesday. Biden, 46, a former Delaware attorney general, is undergoing treatment at the facility. No further details were available.

After eight years as attorney general, Biden joined the investor law firm Grant & Eisenhofer in 2015.

He served a yearlong tour in Iraq as a captain in the Delaware Army National Guard and underwent surgery at a cancer center in Texas last year. He suffered a mild stroke in 2010.

In a message to voters posted on his website in April 2014, Biden, a Democrat like his father, said he planned to run for governor of the mid-Atlantic state.

[Frustratedlady]

1. The best to him and his family.

I hope this is nothing serious and that he has an uneventful recovery. I have met him and found him to be a pleasant and congenial young man.

[newfie11]

2. Why Walter Reed

Yes I know he is certainly eligible for treatment there but Washington Hosp Center and GW Hosp are also in the area.
Just curious.

[Demeter]

3. That is the question a lot of people are asking

I've got to think for privacy/security.

[newfie11]

4. Thanks, that would make sense. Nt

[MBS]

5. it does seem to be for security (for both him and his parents' visits)

http://www.delawareonline.com/story/news/local/2015/05/22/biden-walter-reed-added-security/27778119/

Beau Biden was hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center instead of another facility because the military hospital was able to provide a level of security that allows “regular” visits by his parents, Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill.
Spokeswoman Sandy Dean said the hospital, “often admits individuals as a matter of security precaution. The vice president and Dr. Biden’s regular visits to see their son necessitate his treatment in a facility that is more secure than a traditional hospital.”
. . . .
It remains unclear when Biden was admitted, and under what specific policy his admission was permitted.
Biden is a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. According to Defense Department guidance that governs admission to military hospitals, first priority for admission goes to active-duty service members.
Beau Biden, who while serving as Delaware’s attorney general was deployed to Iraq as a military lawyer for 12 months from 2008 to 2009, was not in an active-duty status at any time during the past two weeks, according to Lt. Col. Len Gratteri, spokesman for the state Guard.

Reserve component service members can also be admitted for “bona fide emergencies,” for conditions incurred in the line of duty, by special designation of a service secretary, and in “unexpected or extraordinary cases … in which the military treatment facility commander determines … that a special exception is in the best interest” of the Defense Department.
Dean said she wasn’t sure which specific aspect of policy applied, but was checking.