It was a poor piece of journalism, insufficient in its reports, inaccurate in describing what was happening in Oklahoma. The story, first published by a local news outlet, unfoundedly suggested that overdoses among people taking ivermectin to fight Covid-19 were a major factor in filling state hospitals.
There was no evidence of this, and history did not even prove that his only and named source had claimed it to be true. But the flawed story was widely shared anyway, aggregated by major media outlets and amplified on social media by liberals eager to show that right-wingers had squandered their growing fondness for ivermectin.
And that was not the end of the mess. Also based on insufficient evidence, some conservatives soon jumped to the conclusion that the doctor was a liar who had invented everything. That wasn’t the truth either.
Here’s a step-by-step breakdown of what went wrong here.
1) A local news media published the doctor’s appointments, provided no context
Ivermectin has traditionally been used for antiparasitic purposes by both animals and humans. This year it has grown in popularity as a Covid-19 treatment, in part because the right-wing media has promoted it for this purpose. But government health authorities have warned that taking ivermectin can cause serious harm, especially when consumed in forms or amounts intended for animals, and that there is no evidence that it is effective against Covid-19.
The controversy over Oklahoma history began with an article published last Wednesday by KFOR, an Oklahoma television network. This article cited only one person: Dr. Jason McElyea, an emergency physician who works with different hospitals in southern and eastern Oklahoma.
The article strongly suggested that McElyea had stated that ivermectin use was a major cause, perhaps the only major cause, of hospital congestion in Oklahoma. Aside from the use of ivermectin, the story did not mention any additional reason why hospitals could pile up.
But there is no evidence, even in the images of additional interviews published by KFOR after the outbreak of the controversy, that McElyea himself was so to blame for the use of ivermectin. It is still difficult to find out exactly what happened in the interview (KFOR edited its reporter’s questions, showing us only the doctor’s answers), but McElyea seemed to say that ivermectin use was a contributing factor. in hospital backwardness, not unique. manually or even causing mainly the delay.
Even if McElyea claimed that ivermectin was the main factor, there would not be enough evidence that this was true. The KFOR article did not cite anyone else who could provide more context on what was really going on at the Oklahoma facility. By contrast, an article published the same day by the Oklahoma Tulsa World newspaper cited several people who focused on Covid-19 itself as the cause of hospital congestion.
McElyea was also quoted in the Tulsa World article. There he also told a story about the impossibility for hours of finding space in a large city hospital for a shot victim he was treating in an emergency room in a small town, but this article did not attribute the scarcity of beds suitable for ivermectin. In fact, the article did not mention ivermectin at all.
In a brief email to CNN on Monday, McElyea said KFOR had “mistaken” him. He said more in an interview last Friday in Oklahoma’s News 9: “As the story was published, it looked like all the hospitals in Oklahoma were full of people who had overdosed on ivermectin and that’s not the case.” .
KFOR has maintained its history. The station told CNN on Monday an e-mail to CNN: “KFOR-TV reports on the pandemic, the proper safety precautions of COVID-19 and effective treatment protocols have been fact-based, accurate, comprehensive and consistent. It will remain so. “
2) Aggregators were not verified
In the era of online “aggregation,” it is common for large outlets to jump into a local story and publish their own versions with few or no other reports. But it is a risky practice at its best, irresponsible when local history is based on a single source.
There were a lot of reckless aggregations here. Rolling Stone published an adaptation of KFOR’s history without seeming to do enough research to make sure the local report was solid. And Rolling Stone used an even more inflammatory title: “Shot victims waited while deworming overdoses rode through Oklahoma hospitals, according to the doctor.” (Rolling Stone, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, changed the headline and added an “update” after a hospital McElyea worked with issued a statement questioning the initial story. We’ll talk about it) more statement in a moment.)
Other outlets, including Britain’s The Hill, Insider and Daily Mail, also published versions of KFOR’s history before modifying or deleting those versions after criticism began. (As of Tuesday afternoon, KFOR’s story was still online.)
3) Liberal tweeters jumped
The story of ivermectin overdoses attacking Oklahoma hospitals was amplified on social media by numerous liberal personalities with substantial follow-ups. Perhaps the highlight was
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who shared the KFOR piece with more than 10 million Twitter followers. (MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday).
There are good reasons for liberals to be concerned about the impact of Americans taking ivermectin for Covid-19, especially instead of getting vaccinated. But that doesn’t excuse the decision to promote thin but sensational claims about the impact of the drug.
4) Some conservative tweeters also came to conclusions
After McElyea began receiving criticism, a hospital he has worked with, Northeastern Health System Sequoyah, issued a statement saying he had not worked there for more than two months, that the hospital had not seen any patients with complications. to take ivermectin and that “he has not had to divert any patients seeking emergency care.”
In
some in the right-hand corners, this statement was taken as definitive proof that the doctor was a liar. Some of McElyea’s critics even left him terrible reviews on medical websites.
But then again, it wasn’t clear that McElyea had actually said anything false, let alone that he had deliberately lied. In addition, these critics ignored the fact that the doctor’s online information showed he was affiliated with more than one hospital.
On Monday, another hospital where McElyea works, INTEGRIS Grove Hospital,
dit in a statement that “what we can confirm is that we have seen a handful of patients with ivermectin in our emergency rooms.” The hospital added: “And while our hospitals are not full of people who have taken ivermectin, these patients are adding to the congestion already caused by COVID-19 and other emergencies.” In a follow-up message Monday night, hospital spokeswoman Kristi Wallace said they had no beds available that night.
So there’s some corroboration of the things McElyea really said. And, while, again, there is no basis for the viral claim that ivermectin overdoses cause hospital congestion in Oklahoma, ivermectin may play a role.
“While we are aware that hospitals across the state are currently struggling with capacity issues, the hospital association does not receive reports of specific medical issues,” Patti Davis, the Oklahoma Hospital Association, said in an email electronic Monday.
