I have seen this firsthand many times.
Wife's grandfather on her mom's side has dementia. He fell once, don't even remember if he broke anything, he didn't hit his head, but was never the same since.
I bet anyone here $1000 that the reason the press hasn't been allowed to see him is Biden was completely out of it when he was going into the hospital.
If it was just an ankle there would be pictures. I wonder if they had him in a neck brace so didn't want any pictures or footage?
This is very true. Hip surgeries in particular. I read once that the expected survival rate beyond a year after hip surgery if you are an octogenarian is ~20%. I can say I've seen it first hand. You do the surgery, they seem all better, they go home and die within weeks.
That said, that was almost 20 years ago, I think things are better now. Better but they still suck.