FORT WORTH, Texas—An Indian-American pediatrician was killed on Thuraday when a tree fell on her while she was hiking with her family in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, according to news reports.
“Hospital officials expressed their sorrow Monday for a North Texas pediatrician who was killed last week when a tree fell on her while she was hiking with her family in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee,” reported Star Telegram.
Dr. Laila Jiwani, 42, of Plano, a doctor with Cook Children’s, died Thursday when she was struck by a tree on Porter Creek Trail at the park, said Star Telegram. Her 6-year-old son suffered a broken leg. High winds caused the tree to fall.
Jiwani’s husband, Taufiq Jiwani, wrote in a Facebook post that doctors said his wife saved their son by taking the brunt of the impact, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported. The post has since been deleted.
“We are greatly saddened by the death of Dr. Laila Jiwani,” Britt Nelson, president of Cook Children’s Physician Network, said in a statement Monday. “She was beloved by her patients, families as well as her coworkers. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family.”
Jiwani and her husband were hiking in the park with their three sons at the time, according to news reports.
Her funeral is Wednesday in Dallas.
