{{short description|American gastroenterologist (1947–2021)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Harold Bornstein | image = Dr. Harold Bornstein.png | caption = Bornstein in 2016 | birth_name = Harold Nelson Bornstein | birth_date = {{birth date|1947|3|26}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{dda|2021|1|8|1947|3|26}} | education = Tufts University (BS, MD) | occupation = {{hlist|Physician|gastroenterologist}} | known_for = Donald Trump's personal physician | spouse = {{marriage|Cynthia Ewing Callachan|1981|end=divorce}}<br>Melissa Brown | children = 5 }} '''Harold Nelson Bornstein''' (March 26, 1947 – January 8, 2021) was an American gastroenterologist and Donald Trump's personal physician.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Seelye |first1=Katharine Q. |title=Harold N. Bornstein, Trump's Former Personal Physician, Dies at 73 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/nyregion/harold-bornstein-dead.html |access-date=14 January 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=14 January 2021 |archive-date=January 14, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114133330/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/nyregion/harold-bornstein-dead.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=stat>{{cite web|last1=Swetlitz|first1=Ike|title=From epic poet to Donald Trump's doctor: the story of 'Count Harold|url=https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/30/trump-doctor-harold-bornstein/|website=Stat|date=August 30, 2016|accessdate=January 5, 2017|archive-date=August 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160830150400/https://www.statnews.com/2016/08/30/trump-doctor-harold-bornstein/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Swetlitz|first1=Ike|title=One-on-one with Trump's doctor: Hecklers, house calls, and why Obamacare must be shut down|url=https://www.statnews.com/2016/12/21/harold-bornstein-trump-doctor/|website=Stat|date=December 21, 2016|access-date=January 5, 2017|archive-date=December 22, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222040615/https://www.statnews.com/2016/12/21/harold-bornstein-trump-doctor/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Devine|first1=Curt|title=Trump's doctor to CNN: No regrets about controversial letter|url=http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/politics/donald-trump-doctor-harold-bornstein/|website=CNN|date=September 2016|accessdate=January 5, 2017|archive-date=September 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902131817/http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/politics/donald-trump-doctor-harold-bornstein/|url-status=live}}</ref> Bornstein was Donald Trump's personal physician from 1980 until early 2018; before then, Bornstein's father was his personal physician.<ref name=stat/>
== Early life== Harold Nelson Bornstein was born on March 3, 1947 in New York City to Jacob, a physician, and Maida (''née'' Seltzer) Bornstein.<ref name="NYT">{{cite web |last1=Seelye |first1=Katharine Q. |title=Harold N. Bornstein, Trump’s Former Personal Physician, Dies at 73 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/nyregion/harold-bornstein-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=9 June 2024 |date=14 January 2021}}</ref> Bornstein received his M.D. degree from Tufts University in 1975 and had been licensed to practice medicine in New York State since 1976.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nysed.gov/coms/op001/opsc2a?profcd=60&plicno=127270&namechk=BOR|title=License information: BORNSTEIN HAROLD N.|work=Office of the Professions|publisher=State of New York|accessdate=May 2, 2018|archive-date=September 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923185607/http://www.nysed.gov/coms/op001/opsc2a?profcd=60&plicno=127270&namechk=BOR|url-status=live}}</ref> He was certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine as a specialist in internal medicine (1978) and gastroenterology (1983).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.abim.org/verify-physician/Bornstein-Harold-AAyZDHDJrro=.aspx |title=Harold Nelson Bornstein |work=American Board of Internal Medicine |accessdate=29 October 2019 |archive-date=September 28, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928075126/https://www.abim.org/verify-physician/Bornstein-Harold-AAyZDHDJrro=.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref>
He ultimately joined his father's practice and was on staff at Lenox Hill Hospital{{When|date=November 2025}}.<ref name=NYT/>
== Trump's personal physician role == In December 2015 in response to questions about his health, Trump asked Bornstein to issue a "full medical report", predicting that it would show "perfection".<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://time.com/4148111/donald-trump-health-report/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209205435/https://time.com/4148111/donald-trump/|url-status=live|archive-date=December 9, 2019|title=Donald Trump's Health Is 'Astonishingly Excellent,' His Doctor Says|last=Bereson|first=Tessa|date=December 14, 2015|magazine=Time|access-date=May 2, 2018}}</ref> Two days later Bornstein signed a letter full of superlatives, saying that Trump's "laboratory results are astonishingly excellent" and that Trump "will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/08/bornstein-trump-linguistics/497840/|title=The Bizarre Words of Donald Trump's Doctor|last=Hamblin|first=James|date=August 31, 2016|work=The Atlantic|accessdate=May 2, 2018|archive-date=August 31, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160831183655/https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2016/08/bornstein-trump-linguistics/497840/|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2016, Bornstein stated that he had written the letter in five minutes while Trump's limousine waited for it. But he reiterated that Trump's "health is excellent, especially his mental health."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-doctor-wrote-health-letter-just-5-minutes-limo-waited-n638526|title=Trump Doctor Wrote Health Letter in Just 5 Minutes as Limo Waited|date=August 26, 2016|work=NBC News|accessdate=May 2, 2018|archive-date=August 26, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826222727/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-doctor-wrote-health-letter-just-5-minutes-limo-waited-n638526|url-status=live}}</ref>
In May 2018 Bornstein said that, in fact, Trump had dictated the letter over the telephone, then sent a car to pick it up.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/politics/harold-bornstein-trump-letter/index.html|title=Exclusive: Bornstein claims Trump dictated the glowing health letter|date=May 1, 2018|work=CNN|accessdate=May 2, 2018|archive-date=April 18, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418082735/https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/politics/harold-bornstein-trump-letter/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Bornstein said in an interview with CNN that "Mr. Trump dictated the letter and I would tell him what he couldn't put in there..."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43970908|title=Trump wrote own health letter, doctor says|date=May 2, 2018|work=BBC News|access-date=May 2, 2018|language=en-GB|archive-date=May 8, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508164039/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43970908|url-status=live}}</ref>
Speaking to ''The New York Times'' in February 2017, Bornstein revealed that he was invited to and attended President Trump's inauguration with his wife Melissa. Bornstein told ''The Times'' that he enjoyed the attention from being known as the President's personal physician.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Altman|first1=Lawrence|title=Donald Trump's Longtime Doctor Says President Takes Hair-Growth Drug|newspaper=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/us/politics/trump-prostate-drug-hair-harold-bornstein.html|accessdate=February 2, 2017|date=February 2, 2017|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202021136/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/us/politics/trump-prostate-drug-hair-harold-bornstein.html|url-status=live}}</ref> According to Stat, Bornstein had hoped to be the physician to the president, but the White House decided that Ronny Jackson would continue in that role.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Scott|first1=Dylan|title=Trump is keeping Obama's White House doctor for now|url=https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/02/trump-white-house-doctor/|website=Stat|date=February 2, 2017|accessdate=February 4, 2017|archive-date=February 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170205100945/https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/02/trump-white-house-doctor/|url-status=live}}</ref>
On May 1, 2018, Bornstein told NBC News that three Trump representatives had "raided" his office on February 3, 2017, taking all of Trump's medical records. Bornstein said he felt "raped, frightened and sad" over the event. He identified two of the men as Trump's longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller and the Trump Organization's chief legal officer Alan Garten. Two days earlier, Bornstein had told a reporter that Trump took a prescription hair growth medicine, Propecia, after which Trump cut ties with him.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-doc-says-trump-bodyguard-lawyer-raided-his-office-took-n870351|title=Trump doctor Harold Bornstein says bodyguard, lawyer 'raided' his office, took medical files|last=Schechter|first=Anna R.|date=May 1, 2018|work=NBC News|accessdate=May 2, 2018|archive-date=May 1, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180501223104/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-doc-says-trump-bodyguard-lawyer-raided-his-office-took-n870351|url-status=live}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== Bornstein was Jewish<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr. Harold Bornstein, Trump's eccentric Jewish doctor, dead at 73 |url=https://forward.com/fast-forward/462115/dr-harold-bornstein-trumps-eccentric-jewish-doctor-dead-at-73/ |website=The Forward |access-date=9 June 2024 |language=en |date=14 January 2021}}</ref> and lived in Scarsdale, New York.<ref name=NYT/> Bornstein was married three times: in 1981, Bornstein married his second wife Cynthia Ewing Callachan, in a ceremony officiated by the Protestant chaplain of Yale University, and he was most recently married to Melissa Brown.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cynthia Callachan Bride Of Dr. Harold Bornstein |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/01/25/style/cynthia-callachan-bride-of-dr-harold-bornstein.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=9 June 2024 |date=25 January 1981}}</ref> ''The New York Times'' described Bornstein as "loquacious, hirsute and eccentric."<ref name=NYT/>
Bornstein died on January 8, 2021 at the age of 73. The place and cause of death was not disclosed.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Forgey|first=Quint|title=Harold Bornstein, Trump's eccentric ex-doctor, dies|url=https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/14/harold-bornstein-trump-ex-doctor-dies-459293|access-date=2021-04-09|website=POLITICO|date=January 14, 2021|language=en|archive-date=March 7, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210307092709/https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/14/harold-bornstein-trump-ex-doctor-dies-459293|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Seelye|first=Katharine Q.|date=2021-01-14|title=Harold N. Bornstein, Trump's Former Personal Physician, Dies at 73|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/nyregion/harold-bornstein-dead.html|access-date=2021-04-09|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=January 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210114133330/https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/nyregion/harold-bornstein-dead.html|url-status=live}}</ref> He was surrounded by his wife, Melissa, and five children.<ref name=NYT/><ref>{{cite web |last1=Cole |first1=Ben Tinker,Devan |title=Dr. Harold Bornstein, Trump's former personal physician, dead at 73 {{!}} CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/14/politics/harold-bornstein-donald-trump/index.html |website=CNN |access-date=9 June 2024 |language=en |date=14 January 2021}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bornstein, Harold}} Category:1947 births Category:2021 deaths Category:21st-century American medical doctors Category:American gastroenterologists Category:Tufts University School of Medicine alumni Category:Medical doctors from New York City Category:American people of Jewish descent