James Todaro, who includes a "not medical advice" caveat on his Twitter profile, and who has no known experience treating COVID-19. Bob Hamilton, a private-practice pediatrician from Santa Monica, California, known for his ability to soothe a crying baby via the “Hamilton Hold,” as well as Dr. Other doctors introduced in the video included Dr. Cedars-Sinai publicly addressed the videos saying that “there is no one by that name on the staff of Cedars-Sinai or affiliated with Cedars-Sinai.” Simone Gold, an emergency and general practice physician registered with the California Medical Board and featured in the video, described the group as “doctors, healers, and just people that want to help our nation” who represent “hundreds and thousands of doctors.” In a separate video shared to Twitter, Gold described her take on “flattening the curve” while standing in front of Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai hospital, discussing case rates and hospital capacity as if appearing to have an affiliation with the institution. 6, the group appeared to still be active on Facebook and Instagram with thousands of followers.Įach doctor in the video is seen wearing a white coat featuring an "America’s Frontline Doctors" logo on the left side. If Americans continue to let so-called experts and media personalities make their decisions, the great American experiment of a Constitutional Republic with Representative Democracy, will cease.ĪFD registered for a second domain,, on July 29, according to Whois. We can speculate on how this has happened, and why it has continued, but the purpose of the inaugural White Coat Summit is to empower Americans to stop living in fear. Snopes contacted the email address listed in an archived version of the website but received an email bounce-back that read, "the email account that you tried to reach does not exist." The archived AFD homepage read:Īmerican life has fallen casualty to a massive disinformation campaign. Breitbart reported the AFD website was "shut down" by hosting platform Squarespace. Though the domain registry itself does not expire until 2021, the link led to a " website expired" page within 24 hours of the event airing. AFD has little online presence and according to Whois, a database that tracks domains online, the domain was created on July 16, 2020. What Is 'America’s Frontline Doctors'?ĪFD appears to be a new group supported and promoted by the conservative political organization Tea Party Patriots Action ( TPPatriots), which shared a link to the “summit” on its website. 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?ĭuring 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 be confirmed, and some questionable and outright dangerous claims regarding an unproven “cure” and preventative treatment for COVID-19. Less than 24 hours after being posted, the video was pulled from social media platforms for presenting misinformation lauding unproven treatments for COVID-19, and thousands of reader queries poured in at Snopes, asking about the legitimacy of the video and the personalities featured in it. Supreme Court on July 27, 2020, in a self-described " White Coat Summit" to address a “massive disinformation campaign” regarding COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.Ī video recording of the 45-minute long event was promoted online as a “SCOTUS press conference” but had no clear affiliation with the high court other than being held on the footsteps of the Washington, D.C., courthouse. And, please, follow the CDC or WHO for guidance on protecting your community from the disease.Ī group that called itself "America’s Frontline Doctors" (AFD) took to the steps of the U.S. Become a Founding Member to help us hire more fact-checkers. Submit any questionable rumors and “advice” you encounter. Read the latest fact checks about the vaccines. Find out what we've learned and how to inoculate yourself against COVID-19 misinformation. Snopes is still fighting an “infodemic” of rumors and misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and you can help.
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