A formal swearing-in at the Oval Office took a chaotic turn when a young girl collapsed during the ceremony for Dr. Mehmet Oz’s new appointment.
The Friday event – meant to be a routine moment of pomp as President Donald Trump welcomed Oz to his administration – instead saw Trump’s remarks abruptly halted by a family emergency.
White House staff swiftly ushered journalists out as Dr. Oz himself leapt into action to aid the child.
It was a jarring moment that blended the political with the personal, leaving onlookers momentarily stunned but ultimately relieved as the situation stabilized.
The incident, though quickly resolved, offered an unusual glimpse of improvisation and humanity amid the typically scripted theater of a White House ceremony.
Swearing-in takes a dramatic turn
What began as a celebratory oath-taking quickly descended into confusion.
Dr. Mehmet Oz – the celebrity heart surgeon-turned-TV host – was being sworn in as head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), with President Trump looking on and an audience of family and press in attendance.
The Oval Office gathering doubled as an impromptu press conference, a Trumpian twist that saw the president fielding questions on various topics. In fact, Trump was mid-sentence answering a question about whether he would allow Iran to maintain a civilian nuclear program when commotion broke out.
Without warning, a 6-year-old girl in the room fainted, interrupting the proceedings. Shouts of alarm were heard – one person called for the president’s attention and another exclaimed “fainted!” as attendees rushed toward the fallen child.
In the split-screen confusion of the moment, Secret Service agents and aides immediately moved, and the president stopped speaking. “Press out! Everybody get out, right now!” officials shouted, swiftly escorting reporters from the Oval Office.
What had minutes earlier been a ceremonial photo-op had now turned into a brief emergency response scene, with the Oval Office doors flung open and protocol upended.
Dr. Oz rushes to the rescue
For Dr. Oz, the crisis was a chance to rely on instincts from his medical past.
The University of Pennsylvania-trained physician – famed for his time as a heart surgeon – sprang into action to attend to the girl as soon as she crumpled to the floor. Oz had just moments before completed his oath of office, administered by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., when he suddenly found himself back in doctor mode.
The young girl was a guest of Oz’s at the ceremony and a member of his family, there to support him on his big day.
As he knelt to help, others in the room hovered anxiously. The girl quickly regained consciousness and was able to stand, though witnesses said she appeared unsteady as she was helped out of the Oval Office.
White House medical personnel were on hand, but Oz’s swift response underscored the advantage of having a physician in the room. Within moments, it became clear the scare was subsiding. “A minor family member fainted during Dr. Oz’s swearing-in ceremony in the Oval Office. We are happy to say she is okay,” the White House said in a statement afterward.
One White House official noted that this wasn’t the first time a person had fainted during an event, chalking it up to the packed room and intensity: “As you know, it gets pretty hot in there sometimes,” the official quipped, emphasizing that the child’s collapse was likely due to heat and excitement rather than anything more serious. The remainder of the ceremony was canceled, but the priority had clearly shifted to the young girl’s well-being – a priority Dr. Oz was uniquely qualified to address.
Trump’s unscripted moment and remarks
President Trump, known for his extemporaneous style, handled the interruption with a mix of concern and characteristic improvisation. Moments before the fainting incident, he had been lauding Dr. Oz’s credentials and even delving into an unrelated policy tangent.
After ensuring the child was receiving care, Trump did not attempt to immediately resume the Q&A. Instead, the event was called off once the emergency became apparent, an uncommon end to a presidential press avail.
Later, officials reported that Trump had paused his remarks out of concern and waited until he received assurances that the girl was recovering before departing the Oval Office.
Earlier in the ceremony, President Trump had introduced his old television acquaintance with warm – if slightly surprised – praise.
He touted Oz’s “sterling medical career” and rattled off highlights of the doctor’s résumé, including Oz’s education at Harvard and Penn and his tenure as a prominent heart surgeon and Columbia University professor.
The president candidly admitted he hadn’t been aware of much of that history. “Boy, oh boy, I thought he just did a show,” Trump joked, marveling that the man he mostly knew from daytime TV had such an illustrious medical background.
The reference drew chuckles in the room. Trump recounted how he first became familiar with The Dr. Oz Show during his 2016 campaign, when he famously appeared on Oz’s program to discuss his health. “You know why I know the show? Because [Dr. Oz] said I’m a little overweight, I should lose some weight,” the president said with a self-deprecating smile. “I did his show, and that’s what I got out of it. That was not good,” he added, prompting laughter.
Despite the lighthearted asides, Trump made clear the importance of Oz’s new role.
He thanked the incoming CMS chief for the “big commitment” of leaving private life for public service, and reiterated his own administration’s pledge of “no cuts” to Medicare and Medicaid – a reassurance amid ongoing debates in Washington about possible spending trims. Those promises hung in the air, unanswered, as the event came to its premature close due to the medical scare.
From TV doctor to health policy czar
Dr. Mehmet Oz’s appointment to run CMS marks a remarkable turn in a most unusual career. Oz, 64, first rose to prominence not in government but through medicine and media. A onetime star surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, he built a reputation for cardiac medicine and innovative health communication.
Yet it was his second act – as host of The Dr. Oz Show for 13 seasons – that made him a household name. That celebrity status eventually propelled him into the political arena. In 2022, Oz traded daytime TV for the campaign trail, mounting an ambitious (if ultimately unsuccessful) bid for a U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania. Now, having earned President Trump’s trust, he steps into a position of immense responsibility at CMS, where he will oversee health insurance programs serving about 150 million Americans.
Oz’s unusual blend of experiences attracted both praise and scrutiny. Supporters tout his communication skills and medical bona fides. “We have a generational opportunity to fix our healthcare system and help people stay healthy for longer,” Oz told senators at his confirmation hearing, striking an optimistic tone about what he hopes to achieve in government.
He has vowed to fight fraud in the $1 trillion in federal health programs under his watch and to champion preventive care.
But skeptics, including some lawmakers and medical professionals, have questioned his past promotion of unproven supplements and queried whether his outlook aligns with mainstream science. During Senate hearings, Oz carefully avoided committing to any stance on potential Medicaid cuts – a contentious issue as Congress debates the future of the safety net.
For Trump, putting a television-famous doctor in charge of CMS fits a broader pattern of installing high-profile personalities who echo his vision. The president’s choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – an outspoken vaccine skeptic – as Health and Human Services Secretary is another example of this unorthodox approach.
In Oz, Trump gets a health administrator who is both a seasoned physician and a polished communicator able to defend administration policy on camera. That combination is likely to be tested soon, as Oz takes the helm amid debates over Medicare and Medicaid’s future and persistent divides over public health measures.
A scare with a happy ending
In the aftermath of the Oval Office incident, the prevailing mood was relief. The young girl’s fainting spell turned out to be brief and non-life-threatening – a momentary drama that ended with applause for her recovery rather than alarm.
By early evening, the White House confirmed the girl was back on her feet and “doing OK”. Dr. Oz’s family, no doubt shaken by the scare, could breathe easy again. And the new CMS chief managed to demonstrate his medical prowess on Day One in an unexpected fashion.
The chaotic interruption also offered a humanizing footnote to an otherwise politically charged ceremony. It’s not often that a swearing-in – typically all smiles and handshakes – features shouted orders to evacuate the press and a doctor crouched on the Oval Office rug checking a child’s vitals.
For a few minutes, titles and talking points took a backseat to basic caregiving. “Together, we’re going to make the care better… We’ll make America healthy again,” Dr. Oz had declared earlier in the day as he outlined his goals. In that sudden medical emergency, he was living those words quite literally, tending to a patient in need right beside the Resolute Desk.
