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These are "America's Frontline Doctors" that the conspiracy theorists (and Trump) are touting.
Two of the bozos are Opthamologists ffs. At least three have appeared on FOX news in support of Dur Fuhrer
97 days **sigh**
No Evidence That Doctor Group in Viral Video Got Near COVID 'Front Lines'
— Who are the physicians behind America's Frontline Doctors?
A screenshot from the America’s Frontline Doctors video
The latest viral video promoting COVID-19 misinformation features a newly formed group called America's Frontline Doctors. About 10 physicians, dressed in white coats with an embroidered America's Frontline Doctors logo, spoke for 45 minutes in front of the Supreme Court on Monday on a range of COVID-19 talking points, from hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) being curative to the mental health effects of lockdown outweighing the toll of the virus itself.
But none of them have practices that would place them on the actual front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some don't currently practice at all.
Two of those appearing at the Monday event are ophthalmologists, one of whom is no longer licensed. MedPage Today could find no evidence that any of the speakers worked in hospitals with significant numbers of COVID-19 patients.
The group's website, which according to internet records was created on July 16, was de-activated on Tuesday (though past versions can be seen on web archives). Major social media platforms have sought to remove the video from their pages.
Late Tuesday, the group was delivering a second press conference as part of a two-day "summit."
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) opened the first briefing by calling for schools to reopen. Austin Livingston, a spokesperson for Norman, said the congressman was invited to speak by the Tea Party Patriots -- which organized the event on the Supreme Court steps -- in order to "encourage state officials to open schools."
The Associated Press has previously reported that the Tea Party Patriots are a part of the Save Our Country Coalition, an alliance of conservative groups formed earlier this year to end regional lockdowns. That report also said the Trump campaign tried to recruit doctors to publicly support the president in his push to reopen economies.
Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, spoke as part of the America's Frontline Doctors press briefing. It is not clear what relationship, if any, exists between the two groups beyond the Washington event.
So who are some of these doctors involved in this group, and what involvement have they had in the pandemic?
Simone Gold, MD, JD
In her Twitter profile, Gold describes herself as a "doctor, lawyer, writer, mom," and links to her website, thegoldopinion.com, which promotes libertarian political viewpoints.
Gold earned a medical degree in 1989 from what is now the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago. Her website bio identifies her as a board-certified emergency physician in the Los Angeles area.
Her California medical license includes her unverified claim that she is involved in patient care 30-39 hours per week and indicates a practice location in Hesperia, a bedroom community of about 100,000 at the edge of the Mojave Desert. Efforts to determine where specifically she may practice were unsuccessful.
She did not respond to a message seeking clarification and comment.
Gold has been a frequent contributor to conservative media, including Fox News, where she advocates for HCQ as a treatment for COVID-19 and fast economic reopening.
Stella Immanuel, MD
Immanuel is a pediatrician and minister in Houston, according to reports, with a clinic in a strip mall. During Monday's briefing, she claimed she has treated 350 COVID-19 patients with HCQ and none have died.
She said she is working on publishing her own data, then added that her data would not matter because right now people are dying when not treated with the drug.
"Everybody get on hydroxychloroquine!" she said, calling the large randomized trials that debunked the drug "fake science." She also declared that people did not need to wear masks.
Immanuel could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Her ministry's website was not operational Tuesday afternoon and a GoFundMe page that she called her "legal team" has been removed from the site. A cached version of the ministry site still stands.
Earlier during the pandemic, Immanuel made news for challenging Anthony Fauci, MD, and CNN correspondents to share urine samples to prove they were not secretly taking HCQ.
James Todaro, MD
Todaro, an ophthalmologist based in Michigan who is no longer practicing, graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2014. His medical license, which was classified as "educational limited" in Michigan, expired in 2019.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Todaro has not practiced medicine since 2018. He co-founded an investment fund called Blockchain Capital.
Todaro authored a blog post in May that was among the first to expose flaws in the infamous Lancet study concluding that HCQ was associated with higher death rates in COVID-19 patients. Todaro's exposé, written on his website Medicine Uncensored, ultimately contributed to the study's retraction.
Previously, Todaro wrote a "white paper" in mid-March on chloroquine as prophylaxis and treatment for COVID-19, based on published information and linked in a Twitter post. Twitter has since marked it as "potentially spammy or unsafe."
Todaro did not respond to multiple requests for comment from MedPage Today.
Bob Hamilton, MD
Hamilton, a pediatrician and schools liaison with America's Frontline Doctors, has been practicing in Santa Monica, California -- home to his private practice, Pacific Ocean Pediatrics -- for more than 30 years. He has hospital privileges at Providence-St. John's Health Center and UCLA-Santa Monica Medical Center.
His practice is involved with Lighthouse Medical Missions, which organizes faith-based medical service trips in developing countries. Hamilton also founded a company that sells bath and body products for babies, and authored a 2018 resource guide called 7 Secrets of the Newborn.
The pediatrician became an internet sensation when he created "The Hamilton Hold," a four-step technique to quiet crying babies instantly. His technique attracted global media attention, and has been viewed more than 44 million times on YouTube.
Hamilton has advocated for getting children back in schools this fall. "Our kids are not really the ones who are driving the infection, it is the older individuals," Hamilton said at the Monday press conference. "We need to not act out of fear, we need to act out of science."
He did not respond to requests for comment from MedPage Today.
Dan Erickson, DO
Erickson is the co-owner of Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield, California. He is a former emergency physician, according to reports, who was featured on national television in late April after he claimed data his center had collected showed that COVID was more widespread and less harmful than reported in medical journals.
The American College of Emergency Physicians and American Academy of Emergency Medicine issued a joint statement condemning Erickson's claims, calling them "reckless and untested musings" that are "inconsistent with current science and epidemiology regarding COVID-19."
Erickson could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. He is affiliated with Adventist Health Bakersfield, according to a report. Adventist Bakersfield did not return a call Tuesday.
Richard Urso, MD
Urso is an ophthalmologist at Houston Eye Associates in Bellaire, Texas, who has been touting HCQ for COVID-19. He told Fox News host Laura Ingraham earlier this month that he has been working with the drug for 30 years and has never had a patient with a heart issue.
He also said during that interview that HCQ was "safer than Tylenol, aspirin, Motrin."
Urso has one ding on his Texas medical license: In 2003, he paid a $1,500 fine to resolve allegations that he didn't provide a narrative of medical records to an attorney for a patient's personal injury lawsuit.
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Two of the bozos are Opthamologists ffs. At least three have appeared on FOX news in support of Dur Fuhrer
97 days **sigh**
No Evidence That Doctor Group in Viral Video Got Near COVID 'Front Lines'
— Who are the physicians behind America's Frontline Doctors?
A screenshot from the America’s Frontline Doctors video
The latest viral video promoting COVID-19 misinformation features a newly formed group called America's Frontline Doctors. About 10 physicians, dressed in white coats with an embroidered America's Frontline Doctors logo, spoke for 45 minutes in front of the Supreme Court on Monday on a range of COVID-19 talking points, from hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) being curative to the mental health effects of lockdown outweighing the toll of the virus itself.
But none of them have practices that would place them on the actual front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some don't currently practice at all.
Two of those appearing at the Monday event are ophthalmologists, one of whom is no longer licensed. MedPage Today could find no evidence that any of the speakers worked in hospitals with significant numbers of COVID-19 patients.
The group's website, which according to internet records was created on July 16, was de-activated on Tuesday (though past versions can be seen on web archives). Major social media platforms have sought to remove the video from their pages.
Late Tuesday, the group was delivering a second press conference as part of a two-day "summit."
U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) opened the first briefing by calling for schools to reopen. Austin Livingston, a spokesperson for Norman, said the congressman was invited to speak by the Tea Party Patriots -- which organized the event on the Supreme Court steps -- in order to "encourage state officials to open schools."
The Associated Press has previously reported that the Tea Party Patriots are a part of the Save Our Country Coalition, an alliance of conservative groups formed earlier this year to end regional lockdowns. That report also said the Trump campaign tried to recruit doctors to publicly support the president in his push to reopen economies.
Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, spoke as part of the America's Frontline Doctors press briefing. It is not clear what relationship, if any, exists between the two groups beyond the Washington event.
So who are some of these doctors involved in this group, and what involvement have they had in the pandemic?
Simone Gold, MD, JD
In her Twitter profile, Gold describes herself as a "doctor, lawyer, writer, mom," and links to her website, thegoldopinion.com, which promotes libertarian political viewpoints.
Gold earned a medical degree in 1989 from what is now the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago. Her website bio identifies her as a board-certified emergency physician in the Los Angeles area.
Her California medical license includes her unverified claim that she is involved in patient care 30-39 hours per week and indicates a practice location in Hesperia, a bedroom community of about 100,000 at the edge of the Mojave Desert. Efforts to determine where specifically she may practice were unsuccessful.
She did not respond to a message seeking clarification and comment.
Gold has been a frequent contributor to conservative media, including Fox News, where she advocates for HCQ as a treatment for COVID-19 and fast economic reopening.
Stella Immanuel, MD
Immanuel is a pediatrician and minister in Houston, according to reports, with a clinic in a strip mall. During Monday's briefing, she claimed she has treated 350 COVID-19 patients with HCQ and none have died.
She said she is working on publishing her own data, then added that her data would not matter because right now people are dying when not treated with the drug.
"Everybody get on hydroxychloroquine!" she said, calling the large randomized trials that debunked the drug "fake science." She also declared that people did not need to wear masks.
Immanuel could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Her ministry's website was not operational Tuesday afternoon and a GoFundMe page that she called her "legal team" has been removed from the site. A cached version of the ministry site still stands.
Earlier during the pandemic, Immanuel made news for challenging Anthony Fauci, MD, and CNN correspondents to share urine samples to prove they were not secretly taking HCQ.
James Todaro, MD
Todaro, an ophthalmologist based in Michigan who is no longer practicing, graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 2014. His medical license, which was classified as "educational limited" in Michigan, expired in 2019.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Todaro has not practiced medicine since 2018. He co-founded an investment fund called Blockchain Capital.
Todaro authored a blog post in May that was among the first to expose flaws in the infamous Lancet study concluding that HCQ was associated with higher death rates in COVID-19 patients. Todaro's exposé, written on his website Medicine Uncensored, ultimately contributed to the study's retraction.
Previously, Todaro wrote a "white paper" in mid-March on chloroquine as prophylaxis and treatment for COVID-19, based on published information and linked in a Twitter post. Twitter has since marked it as "potentially spammy or unsafe."
Todaro did not respond to multiple requests for comment from MedPage Today.
Bob Hamilton, MD
Hamilton, a pediatrician and schools liaison with America's Frontline Doctors, has been practicing in Santa Monica, California -- home to his private practice, Pacific Ocean Pediatrics -- for more than 30 years. He has hospital privileges at Providence-St. John's Health Center and UCLA-Santa Monica Medical Center.
His practice is involved with Lighthouse Medical Missions, which organizes faith-based medical service trips in developing countries. Hamilton also founded a company that sells bath and body products for babies, and authored a 2018 resource guide called 7 Secrets of the Newborn.
The pediatrician became an internet sensation when he created "The Hamilton Hold," a four-step technique to quiet crying babies instantly. His technique attracted global media attention, and has been viewed more than 44 million times on YouTube.
Hamilton has advocated for getting children back in schools this fall. "Our kids are not really the ones who are driving the infection, it is the older individuals," Hamilton said at the Monday press conference. "We need to not act out of fear, we need to act out of science."
He did not respond to requests for comment from MedPage Today.
Dan Erickson, DO
Erickson is the co-owner of Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield, California. He is a former emergency physician, according to reports, who was featured on national television in late April after he claimed data his center had collected showed that COVID was more widespread and less harmful than reported in medical journals.
The American College of Emergency Physicians and American Academy of Emergency Medicine issued a joint statement condemning Erickson's claims, calling them "reckless and untested musings" that are "inconsistent with current science and epidemiology regarding COVID-19."
Erickson could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon. He is affiliated with Adventist Health Bakersfield, according to a report. Adventist Bakersfield did not return a call Tuesday.
Richard Urso, MD
Urso is an ophthalmologist at Houston Eye Associates in Bellaire, Texas, who has been touting HCQ for COVID-19. He told Fox News host Laura Ingraham earlier this month that he has been working with the drug for 30 years and has never had a patient with a heart issue.
He also said during that interview that HCQ was "safer than Tylenol, aspirin, Motrin."
Urso has one ding on his Texas medical license: In 2003, he paid a $1,500 fine to resolve allegations that he didn't provide a narrative of medical records to an attorney for a patient's personal injury lawsuit.
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