What you need to know
A man suffered a medical emergency at the White House on Thursday, Nov. 6, as President Donald Trump and his health advisers attended a meeting to announce cost reductions for weight loss drugs.
During a live broadcast, while Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks was speaking, a man standing near President Trump’s desk in the Oval Office was seen suddenly collapsing, causing Ricks to pause his speech.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, director of President Trump’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, rushed over to catch the man as he fell.
Pool/AP
Oz and other men in the Oval Office forced the man to lie down as White House officials could be heard telling reporters to leave the room. The press was taken back to the White House briefing room.
Minutes later, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt told reporters at the White House that the man was “okay.”
“During the most-favored-nation announcement in the Oval Office, a company representative fainted,” she said in a statement. “The White House medical team was immediately activated and the gentleman is safe. The press conference will resume shortly.”
NDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty
When the meeting eventually resumed without the man who had fallen, President Trump addressed the man’s medical condition.
President Trump said, “A representative of a company felt a little unsteady and fell down, but he’s fine.”
“He’s being treated by doctors and he’s doing well. That’s why I interrupted him a little bit. I’m sorry,” he added, before directing Ricks to resume speaking.
Getty Images initially identified the man as Gordon Findlay, global brand director for Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, but the drug company later issued a statement to multiple news outlets saying Findlay was not present at the event.
Andrew Harnik/Getty
Oz was also present at another medical interruption at the White House earlier this year when her granddaughter collapsed during the swearing-in ceremony.
Philomena, the 11-year-old child of Mehmet’s daughter Daphne Oz, fainted while Oz was being sworn into office by Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the Oval Office on April 18.
While speaking about Mehmet’s nomination at the time, Trump began talking about nuclear weapons, warning attendees of the “great danger” if Iran were to arm itself with nuclear weapons. Philomena collapsed during the comment.
Footage from the event showed journalists in the audience reacting to the commotion as one of Mehmet’s daughters told Mehmet, “Filo has fainted, Filo has fainted. Dad, go!”
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Days after the incident, Daphne said her daughter was doing well in an update she shared on Instagram.
“I’m so thankful it wasn’t anything serious. She bounced back quickly,” she said in an April 20 post.
