Did Trump’s Kooky Upper East Side Doctor Break Ethics Rules?
Image by Facebook
By Josh Nathan-Kazis May 2, 2018
Harold Bornstein, the eccentric Manhattan gastroenterologist who was President Trump’s physician for two decades, admitted Tuesday that the odd letter he signed in 2015 attesting to Trump’s “extraordinary” physical strength was actually written by Trump.
“He dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter,” Bornstein told CNN. The admission could raise questions about whether the kooky doctor breached medical rules by signing a medical assessment he didn’t draft.
“If a doctor offers to let you dictate your own assessment, seek a new doctor,” James Hamblin, a doctor, wrote Tuesday in the Atlantic. “It is unethical, unprofessional, and dangerous.”
Hamblin wrote that doctors have to make their own medical judgements, and that while they must rely on reports from their patients, their medical assessments must be their own.
Questions have also been raised about Bornstein’s disclosure in 2017 that he had prescribed hair-growth medication to Trump, which prompted a shocking raid on Bornstein’s office by a White House employee and a Trump Organization lawyer. But it’s unclear that that disclosure was inappropriate, according to an analysis in Slate by Jeremy Samuel Faust, another doctor.
“There are a lot of questions and not much clarity,” Faust wrote. “On that note at least, we can conclude that we’re in well-trodden Trump territory.”
Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Dive In
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Fast Forward Long Island synagogue cancels Ben-Gvir talk amid wide tensions over whether to host him
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
News Who is Alan Garber, the Jewish Harvard president who stood up to Trump over antisemitism?
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit to a Jewish society at Yale exposed deep rifts between US Jews
-
Fast Forward On his first trip to Auschwitz, New Jersey governor urges vigilance against rising antisemitism
-
Fast Forward Survivors of the Holocaust and Oct. 7 embrace at Auschwitz, marking annual March of the Living
-
Fast Forward Could changes at the FDA call the kosher status of milk into question? Many are asking.
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.