X Blow Up Over Disinfo Dupes and Definition of "Physician"
X Blow Up Over Disinfo Dupes and Definition of "Physician"
Honest Media published a report last week linking the work of Paul Thacker to our research on Disinfo Dupe reporters Brandy Zadrozny and Kiera Butler. When we launched the report and artwork on X (formerly Twitter), it caught attention and ruffled some feathers.
The pushback to Thacker’s reporting from accounts supporting Big Pharma and the DNC was centered around whether Alison Neitzel could rightly be referenced as a “physician” by reporters. Neitzel was just barely out of medical school, which some argue technically makes her a “physician,” but she was not a practicing or licensed physician.
Honest Media chose not to focus on this detail as we were far more shocked at Neitzel’s lack of experience as a medical practitioner. It didn’t matter to us whether the term “physician” was appropriately applied because it is clear that she can’t possibly be a medical expert.
Nevertheless, both Zadrozny and Butler have cited and quoted Neitzel as a medical expert; she is a woman who has only recently finished her schooling and had not completed her training when they quoted her as a “medical expert.”
Our post was retweeted by Dr. Mary Bowden and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya and gained over 19,000 views on X. It got the attention of some key Big Pharma Democratic operatives, including Dr. David Gorski and attorney Dorit Reiss.
Dr. David Gorski has long attacked those who have rejected the government’s narrative around COVID-19, lockdowns, and vaccine mandates. He is also not averse to ad hominem attacks, cursing, and schoolyard name-calling. He replied to the Honest Media tweet with the following comment:
Nah. @kieraevebutler and @BrandyZadrozny did nothing wrong. It's more like @thackerpd is a hack propagandist who deceptively and incorrectly conflates "physician" with "licensed physician" and you're too stupid or dishonest to see it.
Honest Media replied back to this post, stating:
At Honest Media, Michael Kane did not focus on the fact that Allison Neitzel wasn't a licensed physician, but rather that she was hardly a "medical expert." Dr. Tracey Beth Høeg has been attacked by Neitzel on numerous occasions. Høeg stated, “The fact she has not nearly completed her training but has appointed herself as an expert physician in pointing out misinformation strikes me as both odd and ironic.”
Gorski wrote back:
“Did not focus on”? You cited an incompetent hack’s bogus arguments to support your own hack work. That tells me all I need to know about you. Høeg’s no expert. She’s a sports medicine doc, not an expert on public health, immunology, or virology.
I then replied to this from the TEACHERS FOR CHOICE account:
So @TracyBethHoeg's opinion is invalid for not having the correct letters after her name, But @AliNeitzelMD is a "reliable expert" barely out of her schooling and not having completed her training? Or is Neitzel valid in your view simply because she agrees with you?
I replied once more:
..and as you know, David, there are plenty of Ivy League public health experts who agree far more with @TracyBethHoeg than they do with @AliNeitzelMD Such as @MartyMakary , @MartinKulldorff, @DrJBhattacharya, @SunetraGupta and many more…
Dr. Bhattacharya liked this reply. Gorski did not reply any further.
Later in the thread, Garrett Ramirez (@LeftVLockdown) noted that Dr. Høeg was an accomplished epidemiologist at UC Davis. A quick internet search revealed that Høeg is an MD, PhD, at University of California, San Francisco, in the department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics with over 50 published studies in peer reviewed medical literature.
It would seem that Dr. Gorski is okay with telling blatant lies to “win” a Twitter-war.
Paul Thacker wrote a report nearly three years ago detailing Dr. Gorski’s seeming inability to have a respectful, rational debate with anyone he disagrees with and smears.
Definition of Physician
While the exact definition of “physician” compared to “licensed physician” is not that important to us at Honest Media, I understand and respect that Paul Thacker felt it necessary to hold everyone involved accountable to strict interpretations of how we define titles. Lives were literally on the line during COVID, and will be again at some point in the unknown future. This stuff is very serious.
For me, the mere fact that Neitzel was fresh out of college but could be referenced as a “medical expert” is a far more important issue to stress. This was an immoral journalistic decision by Brandy Zadrozny and Kiera Butler in their reporting. To see people defend these two reporters for utilizing Neitzel as a “medical expert” is appalling. Perhaps this sin could be forgiven if they asked for forgiveness, but they have not and almost surely will not.
And it is far from the only sin of these Disinfo Dupe reporters.
I was quite interested in this issue because my son is in med school. So I researched the distinctions you mention. As I understand it, when medical students complete 4 years of med school and pass two USMLE exams (US Medical Licensing Examination) (8 hours and 9 hours respectively), they have earned the MD degree. However, they cannot practice medicine independently until they have served their residency and passed a third lengthy exam. Not all med students are accepted by residency programs (about 20% of them are not). Those who are accepted, pursue their chosen specialty (like pediatrics or surgery) where they work for 3 - 5 years, depending on specialty. They are paid by the hospital and work under supervision of senior doctors. MDs who were not accepted can pursue careers in medicine in other ways, like as a Physician's Asst or researcher. So it may be that Neitzel finished med school but was not accepted by any residency programs or chose not to practice medicine but go into medical journalism. Either way, the term "medical expert" for someone right out of med school who never practiced medicine independently is clearly a gross exaggeration. I am disappointed in journalists who do not check the bonafides of their sources.