President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Surgeon General was 13 years old when her father was shot and killed in a gun accident. The tragedy inspired her to pursue a career in medicine, but she only shared part of her story with the public. To a revelatory new report.
In February 1990, Janet Nesheiwat was looking for scissors in a tackle box on a shelf above her father’s bed in their Umatilla, Florida, home, The New York Times reported.
Although she had a career as a doctor, she never publicly revealed that he had been shot to death.
Nor was she involved in the incident. @Drejanette/Instagram
She accidentally knocks it over, and a .380-caliber handgun falls out of the container and fires, hitting her sleeping father in the head.
“I saw blood on my father’s ear,” Neshewat told police at the time, The Times reported.
Ziad “Ben” Nesheiwat was pronounced dead the next day at an Orlando hospital in what was determined to be an accidental shooting, according to a police report reviewed by the newspaper.
In her 2017 memoir, Beyond the Sesoscope, Ms. Nesheiwat told how her father’s death inspired her to pursue a career in lifesaving, but did not discuss her role in the tragedy. Not mentioned at all.
“When I was 13 years old, I watched helplessly as my beloved father died in an accident, his blood splattering away.I was unable to save his life.This is what it means to be a doctor. It was the beginning of my life’s journey,” Dr. Neshewat writes in the first sentence of his memoir.
Fox News contributor Pete Hegseth (right) at the Fox News Patriot Awards Ceremony. @Drejanette/Instagram
“The trauma of that moment clung to me like an inexorable shadow, unraveling the fabric of my young life and leaving me in a state of eternal devastation,” she writes elsewhere in the book.
According to the New York Times, the doctor has never publicly acknowledged that his father died from an accidental gunfire and has never spoken about his role in the tragedy.
According to her memoir, Janet’s mother, Hayat Nesheiwat, was also a source of inspiration, working as a pediatric nurse and standing strong as the foundation of the family after her husband’s death.
Dr. Neshewat began a career focused on practical medicine, working in the aftermath of natural disasters and then as medical director of CityMD, a network of emergency clinics in New York and New Jersey. She is also a contributor for Fox News.
“Her expertise and leadership have been critical during the most challenging health crisis of our time,” President Trump said in a statement at the time of her nomination last month.
President Trump also noted that Neshewat worked on the front lines in New York City during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Dr. Nesheiwat will play a vital role in making America healthy again!” the President-elect stressed.
Dr. Janet’s sister, Julie Neshewat, served as Homeland Security Advisor to President Trump during his first term in office.
Janet’s younger sister, Jaclyn, is a model and married to Scott Stapp, lead singer of the rock band Creed.
Her other two brothers are lawyers.
Dr. Nesheiwat did not respond to the Times for this story and did not respond to the Times’ request for comment.
