MSNBC host Rachel Maddow has yet to delete a tweet promoting a c0ntested story about rural Oklahoma hospitals being overwhelmed with patients taking the veterinary medicine ivermectin to treat Covid-19 – an unproven treatment.
“Patients overdosing on ivermectin backing up rural Oklahoma hospitals, ambulances,” tweeted Maddow on Sept. 2, quoting the headline of the piece that week by NBC’s Oklahoma City affiliate KFOR.
“’The scariest one I’ve heard of and seen is people coming in with vision loss,’ he said,” added Maddow, quoting the doctor behind the debunked story, Jason McElyea.
“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
McElyea told KFOR, “The ERs are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated.”
The hospital system that McElyea referenced – the Northeastern Hospital System – refuted his claims and said in a statement that McElyea is not an employee, “but is affiliated with a medical staffing group that provides coverage for our emergency room.”
“With that said, Dr. McElyea has not worked at our Sallisaw location in over 2 months,” continued the statement. “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,” said NHS. “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.”
Rolling Stone, Insider, Newsweek, The Guardian and The New York Daily News reported the KFOR story, which has yet to be updated with the statement from the hospital system. Rolling Stone, Insider and The Guardian have included the statement, while Newsweek and The New York Daily News have not.
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