It’s a great time right now for stories that are “too good to check.”
An emergency physician in California is getting an enormous amount of positive press after he went viral last week with a far-fetched anecdote about treating a suspected coronavirus patient adorned with various Nazi tattoos.
None of the newsrooms hailing the doctor as a hero seem to have made any effort to verify his story, which is an almost note-for-note recitation of an episode of the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. No one even appears to be wary of the fact that the doctor, Taylor Nichols, has a history of telling stories about treating patients with Nazi tattoos.
His tale, which has been shared by more than 34,000 social media users, is being treated as gospel, promoted uncritically by some of the largest and most powerful newsrooms.
The Washington Post, for example, gave Nichols space in its opinion pages this weekend to repeat his story in its entirety, right down to the eyebrow-raising part where he alleges that the medical team that treated the supposed Nazi patient included “a Jewish physician, a Black nurse, and an Asian respiratory therapist.”
CNN, which is in hot water already after it promoted a nurse’s doubtful testimony about treating patients who doubted the existence of the virus right up to their final breath, likewise gave Nichols a platform to repeat his anecdote unchallenged. The doctor appeared personally on the network’s flagship morning show. CNN also published a separate report on its website.
The article’s opening lines are: “Dr. Taylor Nichols has faced hate in the emergency room before. He’s treated racist patients, and each time the Jewish physician has dipped into his well of compassion to do his job.”
Something tells me this episode is not getting the thorough vetting it deserves.
Nichols also appeared on ABC News, where anchor and correspondent Linsey Davis introduced her guest thus:
There is more.
“Pandemic patient with swastika tattoo leaves Nor Cal doctor questioning his compassion,” reports an uncritical San Francisco Chronicle.
The Daily Mail reports, “Jewish doctor admits he ‘hesitated’ before treating Covid patient covered in Nazi tattoos and reveals in that moment he realized the pandemic has taken a toll on him, saying: ‘Maybe I’m not okay.’”
The Independent says, “Jewish doctor’s story of treating Covid sufferer covered in Nazi tattoos goes viral.”
“US Jewish doctor tweets on treating Covid patient with Nazi tattoos,” reports Agence France-Presse.
This is to say nothing of the many network affiliates that have reported the story uncritically or journalists who have cheered it on social media. You get the picture.
None of the newsrooms that have elevated Nichols’s story have provided corroborating information to back his version of events. His tale of selfless devotion and heroism appears in their coverage exactly as he tells it, and there is nothing to show whether it is true.
Now, again, it is possible the doctor is telling the truth. But the fact that it seems no one has double-checked his claims should give you pause. Consider this: Nichols works at both the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, and Mercy San Juan Hospital, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Yet, it is unclear from the bulk of the media coverage where, exactly, the alleged Nazi incident took place (a spokesperson for UCSF tells the Washington Examiner that the “described event didn’t take place at UCSF Medical Center”). The general vagueness of the reporting, and the lack of clarifying details, should be a big giveaway that the unwritten rule that says, “If your mother says she loves you, check it out,” is being ignored.
Until proven otherwise. Nichols’s story would seem to fall solidly into the “too good to check” category of news reporting.
Spokespersons Mercy San Juan Hospital did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment. Nichols likewise did not respond.
