The American Medical Association released a scathing rebuke of President Trump for claiming that doctors have inflated COVID-19 statistics for financial gain.
Dr. Susan Bailey, the president of the AMA, called Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations, which came on Friday at a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Michigan, “a malicious, outrageous, and completely misguided charge.”
“Throughout this pandemic, physicians, nurses, and frontline health care workers have risked their health, their safety and their lives to treat their patients and defeat a deadly virus. They did it because duty called and because of the sacred oath they took,” she said. “The suggestion that doctors — in the midst of a public health crisis — are overcounting COVID-19 patients or lying to line their pockets is a malicious, outrageous, and completely misguided charge.”
Her statement was released shortly after the president said that “our doctors get more money if somebody dies from COVID. You know that, right? I mean, our doctors are very smart people. So, what they do is they say, ‘I’m sorry, but everybody dies of COVID.'”
Bailey also noted that despite the president’s insistence that the country is “rounding the turn” regarding the pandemic, the United States has confirmed more than 9 million COVID-19 cases and that the number of daily cases is currently at record highs.
“COVID-19 cases are at record highs today,” the doctor added. “Rather than attacking us and lobbing baseless charges at physicians, our leaders should be following the science and urging adherence to the public health steps we know work — wearing a mask, washing hands and practicing physical distancing.”
The president has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the virus, even after being hospitalized with it himself, frequently claiming that the media are overemphasizing it in an effort to help Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden get elected.
