President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General was involved in a gun accident at the age of 13, which resulted in the tragic death of her father. The tragedy, which Janette Nesheiwat, 48, has only partially shared with the public, motivated her to pursue a career in medicine, according to a bombshell new report.
However, The New York Times revealed last night that when Nesheiwat, famous in the US as a medical expert on Fox News, was 13, accidentally shot and killed her father at their home in Orlando, Florida. Nesheiwat, 48, is set to be sworn in as the nation’s top doctor shortly after Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
An Accident She Regrets
Nesheiwat was looking for a pair of scissors in a tackle box placed on a shelf above her father’s bed at their home in Umatilla, Florida, in February 1990, by The New York Times reported. While searching, she accidentally tipped over the box, causing a .380 caliber handgun to fall out. The gun discharged, tragically hitting her father in the head while he was asleep.
“Something fell out of it and there was a loud noise. I saw blood on my father’s ear,” a young Nesheiwat told police at the time, according to The Times.
Ben Nesheiwat, 44, was pronounced dead the next day from a gunshot wound to the head caused by a .38-caliber handgun that was kept in the tackle box. The coroner ruled his death an “accidental shooting.”
In her memoir, “Beyond The Stethoscope,” Nesheiwat reflects on how losing her father motivated her to pursue a career in medicine, but she does not address her involvement in his death.
“When I was 13 years old I helplessly watched my dear father dying from an accident as blood was spurting everywhere. I couldn’t save his life. This was the start of my personal journey in life to become a physician,” Dr. Nesheiwat wrote in the very first sentence of that memoir.
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“The trauma of that moment clung to me like a relentless shadow, unraveling the fabric of my young life and leaving me in a perpetual state of devastation,” she writes elsewhere in the book.
A Life-Changing Episode
The doctor has never publicly acknowledged that her father’s death was caused by an accidental gunshot or discussed her role in the tragedy, according to The New York Times. Janette’s mother, Hayat Nesheiwat, also served as a source of inspiration.
A pediatric nurse, she became the family’s pillar of strength after her husband’s death, as described in the memoir.
Nesheiwat pursued a career focused on hands-on medicine, working in the aftermath of natural disasters before becoming the medical director for CityMD, a network of urgent care clinics in New York and New Jersey. She is also a contributor to Fox News.
“Her expertise and leadership have been pivotal during some of the most challenging Healthcare crises of our time,” Trump said in a statement at the time of her nomination last month.
Trump also highlighted that Nesheiwat worked on the front lines in New York City during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Dr. Nesheiwat will play a pivotal role in MAKING AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!,” the president-elect emphasized.
Julie Nesheiwat, Dr. Janette’s sister, served as a homeland security advisor during President Trump’s first term.
Janette’s younger sister, Jaclyn, worked as a model and later married Scott Stapp, the lead singer of the rock band Creed.
Her other two siblings are lawyers. Nesheiwat did not respond to The Times’ for the story.
