Dr, Miller North Coast Family Health Center Suite C

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A group that called itself "America's Frontline Doctors" (AFD) took to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Courtroom on July 27, 2020, in a self-described "White Glaze Summit" to address a "massive disinformation campaign" regarding COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused past SARS-CoV-2.

A video recording of the 45-minute long event was promoted online as a "SCOTUS press conference" but had no clear affiliation with the loftier court other than being held on the footsteps of the Washington, D.C., courthouse. Less than 24 hours after being posted, the video was pulled from social media platforms for presenting misinformation lauding unproven treatments for COVID-xix, and thousands of reader queries poured in at Snopes, asking about the legitimacy of the video and the personalities featured in it.

Snopes obtained an archived version of the video and a transcript and dug through medical records to answer the questions: Who are these doctors and how accurate is their information?

During the course of our investigation, we found a doctor who describes herself on Twitter as "God's battle axe and weapon of war," health care providers some of whose claimed credentials and affiliations could not exist confirmed, and some questionable and outright dangerous claims regarding an unproven "cure" and preventative treatment for COVID-19.

What Is 'America's Frontline Doctors'?

AFD appears to be a new group supported and promoted by the conservative political organisation Tea Political party Patriots Action (TPPatriots), which shared a link to the "summit" on its website. AFD has picayune online presence and according to Whois, a database that tracks domains online, the americasfrontlinedoctors.com domain was created on July 16, 2020. Though the domain registry itself does non expire until 2021, the link led to a "website expired" page within 24 hours of the event ambulation. Breitbart reported the AFD website was "shut down" by hosting platform Squarespace. Snopes contacted the email address listed in an archived version of the website but received an email bounce-dorsum that read, "the email business relationship that you tried to reach does not be." The archived AFD homepage read:

American life has fallen casualty to a massive disinformation campaign. Nosotros tin speculate on how this has happened, and why it has continued, but the purpose of the countdown White Coat Summit is to empower Americans to stop living in fear.

If Americans keep to let so-called experts and media personalities brand their decisions, the groovy American experiment of a Ramble Republic with Representative Democracy, volition cease.

AFD registered for a second domain, americasfrontlinedoctorsummit.com, on July 29, according to Whois. Every bit of Aug. 6, the grouping appeared to nevertheless be active on Facebook and Instagram with thousands of followers.

Each doctor in the video is seen wearing a white coat featuring an "America's Frontline Doctors" logo on the left side. Dr. Simone Gold, an emergency and full general practice md registered with the California Medical Board and featured in the video, described the grouping as "doctors, healers, and but people that want to assistance our nation" who represent "hundreds and thousands of doctors." In a split up video shared to Twitter, Gold described her take on "flattening the curve" while standing in forepart of Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai hospital, discussing case rates and hospital capacity equally if appearing to have an amalgamation with the institution. Cedars-Sinai publicly addressed the videos saying that "in that location is no one by that name on the staff of Cedars-Sinai or affiliated with Cedars-Sinai."

Other doctors introduced in the video included Dr. Bob Hamilton, a private-practice pediatrician from Santa Monica, California, known for his ability to soothe a crying babe via the "Hamilton Hold," besides as Dr. James Todaro, who includes a "not medical advice" caveat on his Twitter profile, and who has no known experience treating COVID-19.

The video also featured Dr. Joseph Ladapo, a doc and clinical researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who said that he was speaking for himself. According to the California Medical Board, Ladapo's license was issued in 2016 and is current. Dr. Dan Erickson was likewise featured in the video. An associated accost led us to Accelerated Urgent Care in Bakersfield, California, which told Snopes that Erickson is a part-possessor. We have yet to confirm the background, license or specialty of Erickson.

Snopes attempted to contact each of the individuals listed in a higher place merely received no responses past the time of publication. Nosotros will update this article if nosotros hear dorsum. Of the physicians contacted, Ladapo responded to an interview request, and in his email referred to several Op-Ed pieces that he had written, which take been cited in the source section of this article. Ladapo did non agree to interview requests from Snopes, instead replying: "My sense is that you may be more interested in discrediting the physicians who spoke rather than learning more than about what they said and why."

Most notably, Dr. Stella Immanuel, a Texas-based principal intendance physician with a passion for religion, sparked the curiosity of Snopes readers — at least one-fifth of queries we received in the two days that followed the press briefing were about her medical groundwork and allegations based on anecdotal evidence. Claims made by Immanuel sparked controversy and fabricated headlines in the 24 hours following the release of the video. Snopes contacted Immanuel's facility, Rehoboth Hospital in Houston, Texas, by telephone on July 29, 2020, and confirmed that she was indeed a provider. We reached out for annotate only were told to call back the post-obit solar day. Nosotros volition update the commodity appropriately.

Who Is Immanuel?

Immanuel has registered offices in both Houston and Katy, Texas. She attended medical school at the University of Calabar College of Medicine in Nigeria and reportedly specialized in malaria. The Texas Medical Board lists two licenses, a temporary physician license issued on Oct. 21, 2019, and a physician license (S3994). Immanuel reports in the latter that she has been actively practicing in the U.Due south. or Canada for 24 years, though the Texas Medical Board has not verified that claim. More specifically, she has been practicing in Texas for less than a twelvemonth. In the file, she lists her main specialty equally pediatrics and her secondary every bit emergency medicine. The board also notes that information technology has not verified her medical license or instruction.

A search of Immanuel'southward National Provider Identifier (NPI), a number issued to health care providers in the U.Due south. for insurance purposes, shows that she was assigned 1 in Feb 2007. Typically an NPI filing indicates when an private finished medical schoolhouse; however, Immanuel listed in her license a graduation twelvemonth of 1990 — NPI numbers were not bachelor until 2006. It should be noted that an NPI does not ensure that an individual is licensed or accredited, according to the U.Southward. Department of Health and Human Services.

State records indicate Immanuel's current practice is located in Houston, Texas. A Google Maps search of the address establish Rehoboth Medical Middle in a strip mall known as The Commons at Mission Bend, next door to Fire Power Ministries Christian Resource Middle where Immanuel preaches. Medical licensing records besides point a second address in Katy, Texas.

Viral memes and news accounts claimed Immanuel has fabricated unusual comments, including that witches and demons impact people'south health. We found Immanuel has been song about her religious affiliations on the internet. Her Twitter profile described her as a "physician speaker, author, entrepreneur, deliverance minister," as well as "God'south battle axe and weapon of state of war." The Burn down Power Deliverance Ministry building website was taken downward shortly after the Supreme Court press conference aired, just an archived version of it can be viewed here. The website lists sermons such every bit "Deliverance from Foundational or Family Line Witchcraft" and "Deliverance from Spirit wives and Spirit husbands." An Amazon search returned religious-related books she has written, including those titled "Jesus Help The Church Has Been Caged" and "Iii Nights With God." Immanuel also has held sermons and wrote on her now-deleted website that "tormenting spirits are responsible" for "serious gynecological problems" and "impotence."

"Many women endure from astral sexual practice regularly. Astral sex activity is the ability to project ane's spirit man into the victim's body and take intercourse with it. This practice is very mutual amongst Satanists. They leave their physical bodies in a fallow state while they projection their spirits into the body of whoever they want to have sex with," Immanuel wrote.

Other YouTube videos posted by Immanuel include a "prayer against coronavirus" and prayers against "familiar" and "marine" spirits.

What Did Immanuel Claim During the Press Conference?

Immanuel touted hydroxychloroquine, a controversial and unproven treatment for COVID-19 pushed by U.Southward. President Donald Trump and others, as both a preventative and "cure" for COVID-19. Immanuel also claims to take successfully treated 350 patients for the respiratory disease, some of whom she said had underlying weather such as diabetes or asthma:

And today I'm here to say information technology, that America, in that location is a cure for COVID. All this foolishness does not demand to happen. There is a cure for COVID. At that place is a cure for COVID is called hydroxychloroquine. It'due south called zinc. It's chosen Zithromax.

We found no evidence to suggest Immanuel has treated "hundreds" of COVID-19 patients — including herself, staff, and "many doctors" — nor that her alleged treatments were successful. Nor has she provided whatever evidence to support those claims that we are aware of.

On June xx, 2020, the National Institutes of Wellness halted a clinical trial treating 470 adults hospitalized or predictable to exist hospitalized with COVID-19 with hydroxychloroquine. Researchers participating in the double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial found that the treatment did no damage but "provides no benefit." Less than two weeks afterwards, the U.S. Nutrient and Drug Assistants cautioned against the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for COVID-19 "outside of the hospital setting or a clinical trial due to hazard of heart rhythm bug" and other safety issues, including "lymph system disorders, kidney injuries, and liver issues and failures."

A study published in the August 2020 issue of International Periodical of Infectious Diseases found that hospitalized patients who were given a handling of hydroxychloroquine alone or in combination with azithromycin were associated with a significantly lower decease charge per unit. That being said, the observational report — not experimental by blueprint — and consisted of an analysis of the electronic medical records of patients submitted to Michigan'due south Henry Ford Health System between March 10 and May two, 2020. All patients were treated in a hospital nether the intendance of a physician.

Of the more 2,500 patients analyzed, thirteen.five% of whom were treated with hydroxychloroquine died compared to 26.v% of patients that had received no treatment. The results may be explained partly due to the "aggressive early medical intervention" and monitoring that admitted patients were given, making them less likely to develop more serious complications of COVID-19. Furthermore, patients older than 65 years one-time and those with severe illness when admitted were not included in the assay.

While the findings provide crucial data on hydroxychloroquine, the researchers caution that they "should be interpreted with some caution and should not be applied to patients treated outside of hospital settings." Hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin treatments, whether administered individually or in combination, require farther testing in both a pre-clinical and clinical setting to let for expert monitoring of their safe and efficacy.

A study listed with the U.S. National Library of Medicine is underway to test the safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, Zinc Sulfate, and Doxycycline when used in combination with each other. But no results have been posted, and the 750-participant report is not expected to conclude until Dec. 31, 2020.

Immanuel also cited one case study describing a 62-twelvemonth-old man who went to the emergency room later experiencing persistent hiccups for four days and weight loss over the course of four months. The homo reportedly was found to be COVID positive, was treated using hydroxychloroquine, and was discharged three days after admission in stable condition. But it is important to note that a case report is different from a study in that it describes an event simply does not draw conclusions or correlations between diverse factors. The example authors highlight that physicians should deport in mind more than "singular presentations" of COVID-19 but do not speculate on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine.

Afterwards the "White Coat Meridian" video was removed from social media — by which fourth dimension information technology had already been viewed millions of times — Immanuel took to Twitter to demand that Facebook reinstate her page, threatening the social media site "in Jesus proper noun."

What Is the TPPatriot Connexion?

Snopes readers asked u.s.a. to identify the man who introduced the July 27 press conference. We confirmed him to be U.Southward. Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican from Due south Carolina who aligns with several of TPPatriot's positions simply who says he is not affiliated with the group. Snopes contacted Norman'due south Printing Secretarial assistant Austin Livingston and was forwarded a media advisory from TPPatriots, who positioned the event as a call to "encourage state officials to reopen schools." A statement from the representative read every bit follows:

Our current understanding is that Stella Immanuel's remarks during that press conference are being censored from social media platforms because she used the phrases "we accept a cure" and "don't need a mask." (That's different from saying, for instance, "hither is what I'm seeing with my patients." Or, "here's what we are doing in our hospital in Texas." Had she phrased it this fashion, chances are it would not have been censored.)

Congressman Norman was nowadays at Monday's press briefing to assistance encourage schools to effort to safely reopen for in-person learning this fall, if possible, and was not privy to her remarks ahead of time. While the Congressman does non agree with her argument on the use of masks, and certainly has no expertise in medications, he strongly believes that she has a right to say what she came to say. Without existence censored past big tech.

Snopes contacted Twitter for a response to this alleged "censorship" but received no response at the time of publication. In addition to Twitter and Facebook, YouTube reportedly pulled the content nether the premise that it violated community standards.

On July 28, TPPatriots and AFD issued a video response virtually "high tech censorship" and noted the importance of balancing a "healthy respect" for the virus with a render to normal life. A speaker also noted that hydroxychloroquine is FDA-approved and is a "safe drug" that has been around for 65 years. These sentiments are true when referring to the drug as a treatment for malaria, merely it has yet to be proven safe or effective for the handling of COVID-19, and it may cause agin reactions in those experiencing astringent respiratory infections and other symptoms associated with the disease.

When questioned well-nigh Immanuel'southward claims during a White House press briefing held on July 28, Trump said that he thought Immanuel was "very impressive" and that "her voice was an important vocalism," yet admitted that he knew "zilch well-nigh her." When pressured to reply to claims fabricated by AFD that masks are ineffective, Trump abruptly ended the press conference. In a press conference held the following day, Trump affirmed his positive impression of Immanuel and said:

I was very impressed with her and other doctors that stood with her. I remember she made sense, but I know cipher about her. I only saw her on — yous know, making a argument with very respected doctors. She was not lone. She was making a argument about hydroxychloroquine with other doctors that swear by information technology. They think it's great. So she was not alone.

…

And with hydroxy, all I want to practise is save lives. I don't care if it's hydroxy or annihilation else. All I want to do is save lives. If we can salvage lives, that'southward great.

On July 29, the Trump administration issued a argument announcing that information technology had filed a petition to clarify the scope of a section of the May 2020 Executive Society on Preventing Online Censorship. The petition requests that the Federal Communications Committee (FCC) clarify that the section "does non permit social media companies that modify or editorialize users' speech to escape civil liability."

The petition further requests that the FCC "clarify when an online platform curates content in 'adept religion,' and requests transparency requirements on their moderation practices" and concludes that the president volition "fight dorsum confronting unfair, un-American, and politically biased censorship of Americans online."

Dr, Miller North Coast Family Health Center Suite C

Source: https://www.snopes.com/news/2020/07/30/americas-frontline-doctors/