Jill Biden ‘Screamed’ at Priest Administering Joe Biden’s Last Rites During Health Scare

Jill Biden is opening up about one of the most terrifying moments of her life — the day she thought her husband, Joe Biden, might not survive.

The former First Lady revealed that she screamed at a Catholic priest to leave Joe’s hospital room during his near-fatal health scare in 1988, after doctors discovered he had suffered a life-threatening brain aneurysm.

The emotional scene is described in Jill’s memoir, View From the East Wing, where she recalled the fear and panic that gripped her as the then-senator’s life hung in the balance.

At the time, Biden was just 46 years old and had recently ended his first presidential campaign. What first seemed like a frightening medical emergency quickly turned into a nightmare.

Doctors found blood in his spinal fluid, a sign of a ruptured aneurysm. He needed immediate surgery, and the risks were enormous.

When Jill rushed into the hospital room in Wilmington, Delaware, she was horrified by what she saw.

A priest was either preparing to administer last rites or had already begun reading them.

For Jill, that was too much.

“I rushed to his side and learned he’d had an aneurysm,” she wrote.

Then panic took over.

“Get out! Get out! My husband is not going to die!” Jill screamed at the priest, according to her account.

The moment was so intense that even Jill was stunned by her own reaction.

She later admitted she almost never yells, but in that terrifying instant, she was overcome by fear, anger, and sheer determination. To her, the sight of a priest preparing for the possibility of death felt like surrender — and she was not ready to accept it.

Biden’s condition was so serious that doctors decided he was too unstable to be flown to Washington, D.C.

Instead, he was rushed by ambulance to Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he underwent emergency brain surgery.

The operation saved his life.

Even in the middle of the chaos, Jill said she eventually tried to bring a little humor into the dark moment. After the worst of the panic eased, she joked to Joe, “Way to ruin the holiday.”

But decades later, the Bidens are facing another devastating health battle.

Joe Biden, now a former president, has been diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. Jill has described the diagnosis as “just shocking.”

The cancer was discovered in May 2025, after Biden had left the White House. According to Jill, the couple had been preparing for a different kind of life after politics, including retirement plans and travel.

Instead, everything changed.

“Our whole life has changed now,” she said, describing the emotional toll of the diagnosis.

Jill has also said she was stunned that the cancer had not been detected earlier. She explained that White House doctors had followed standard guidelines from the American Urological Association, which discourage routine PSA screenings for men over age 70.

Because of that, she said, the disease was not found until it had reached an advanced stage.

The cancer has reportedly spread to Biden’s bones, meaning it is no longer considered curable. Still, Jill said it remains treatable.

“I think Joe will live with cancer for the rest of his life,” she said.

The former First Lady has since urged older men to pay close attention to their bodies and speak with their doctors about testing, even if routine screenings are not recommended.

Jill was also asked on The View whether she still believed her husband could have served another four years had he remained in the 2024 presidential race.

Her answer was blunt.

“Not from what I know now,” she said.

Still, Jill also insisted that she believed Joe Biden could have beaten Donald Trump if he had stayed in the race.

Her memoir has sparked mixed reactions, especially as it revisits deeply personal moments from the Bidens’ marriage, political life, and health struggles.

But one thing is clear from Jill’s account: when Joe Biden’s life was on the line, she refused to give up.

Even when a priest entered the room for last rites, Jill Biden made it known she was not ready to say goodbye.