A White House press event took a frightening turn Thursday afternoon when a guest collapsed in the Oval Office during an obesity-drug announcement.
According to the New York Post, President Donald Trump and Dr. Mehmet Oz was on hand as the man received immediate assistance.
“Are you OK? Gordon, you OK?” asked Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks as the attendee began to fall.
Dr. Oz, Trump’s administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, bent over to check on him as he was helped to the floor.
The man’s identity was not immediately released, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later confirmed he was a representative of one of the drug companies and was now “okay” following a fainting spell. “The White House Medical Unit quickly jumped into action, and the gentleman is okay,” she said.
The press conference was briefly delayed, but when it resumed, Trump explained the interruption: “You saw he went down, and he’s fine. We just sent him out and he’s got doctor’s care, but he’s fine. So we had a little bit of an interruption. He got a little bit lightheaded.”
Initial online speculation misidentified the man as Gordon Findlay, a Novo Nordisk executive. The company clarified that CEO Mike Doustdar and EVP Dave Moore were the only representatives present. “We hope the gentleman who suffered a medical incident today is okay,” the company said.
It was not immediately clear what caused the collapse, though fainting is not uncommon at White House events. Dr. Oz, 65, had previously faced a similar situation this year when his 11-year-old granddaughter fainted during a White House press event in April.
