MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has still refused to delete a tweet promoting a fake news story about ivermectin overdoses flooding Oklahoma hospitals that has been debunked by hospital staff. Twitter continues to let Maddow’s tweet and other tweets promoting the debunked story propagate on its platform, despite its censorious policies against “misinformation.”
“Patients overdosing on ivermectin backing up rural Oklahoma hospitals, ambulances,” Maddow tweeted last week, quoting the headline of an article by NBC Oklahoma City affiliate KFOR. “’The scariest one I’ve heard of and seen is people coming in with vision loss,’ he said,” she continued, quoting Jason McElyea, the doctor who made the debunked claim.
"Patients overdosing on ivermectin backing up rural Oklahoma hospitals, ambulances"
"'The scariest one I’ve heard of and seen is people coming in with vision loss,' he said."https://t.co/P909GtxBQZ
— Rachel Maddow MSNBC (@maddow) September 2, 2021
The hospital system at the heart of the quickly confirmed that McElyea had not worked for their location in over two months, and was spreading false information: “With that said, Dr. McElyea has not worked at our Sallisaw location in over 2 months. NHS Sequoyah has not treated any patients due to complications related to taking ivermectin. This includes not treating any patients for ivermectin overdose.”
“All patients who have visited our emergency room have received medical attention as appropriate,” the statement continued. “Our hospital has not had to turn away any patients seeking emergency care. We want to reassure our community that our staff is working hard to provide quality healthcare to all patients. We appreciate the opportunity to clarify this issue and as always, we value our community’s support.”
Is Twitter banning purveyors of "ivermectin overdoses crowding Oklahoma emergency room" misinformation?
The actual number of such patients at the hospital where Jason McElyea worked is zero. https://t.co/vWOn0NxvtO pic.twitter.com/Pe3fjNeqTM
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) September 5, 2021
Twitter continues to allow tweets promoting the debunked story to remain on its platform. Twittter often bans or restricts articles that it views as having a right-wing perspective under the guise of removing “misinformation,” but experts have pointed to the platform’s reticence to ban even the most extreme left-wing content as evidence of the website’s bias.