Samantha Bailey's registration has been cancelled, but she continues to claim she is a doctor.
Samantha Bailey's registration has been cancelled, but she continues to claim she is a doctor.
A former doctor and TVNZ presenter still states she is a doctor on her controversial YouTube channel despite not holding a practising certificate since 2021, and having her registration cancelled.
Bailey, a former co-presenter on the TVNZ health series The Checkup, publishes weekly videos to her channel commenting on the “mythology” of the Covid-19 vaccine, while touting her medical and science education.
She has more than 100 videos and 350,000 subscribers, with a combined viewership of millions.
However, after publishing a series of videos about Covid-19, which garnered a combined 18 million views, Bailey was taken to the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, where her registration was cancelled and she was ordered to pay $148,000 in fines and legal costs.
Today, the same tribunal found if it hadn’t already cancelled her registration last year, then it would have done so for another series of videos posted to the same channel where she claimed that HIV didn’t exist and that gonorrhoea wasn’t sexually transmitted.
At this week’s hearing, lawyers for the Medical Council said that Bailey’s videos had the potential to undermine public confidence in established science.
“Of particular concern is that she’s specifically identified herself as a doctor, and is using that title to give credence to her views,” the council’s lawyer, Abigail Brand said.
The Medical Council say Bailey spread misinformation on a YouTube series she published about HIV/Aids. Photo / YouTube
“She made these statements fully aware she had relinquished her medical licence in 2021.”
Brand said that Bailey had used her platform on YouTube to undermine the public health system, and had undoubtedly caused harm already, suggesting that people infected with HIV or gonorrhoea might not come forward for testing, having seen her videos, and could go on to transmit those infections further.
Brand went on to say that Bailey lacked insight or accountability into her conduct and had persisted in publishing regular videos, “intentionally flying in the face of the regulator”.
“She appears to think she is presenting the truth,” Brand said, noting that Bailey appeared to be motivated financially by posting her videos where she advertises her book, and asks for donations.
The tribunal opted to fine Bailey a further $17,000 for those videos, impose a censure and order her to pay legal costs - yet to be determined - for malpractice and negligence in regards to the most recent set of videos she posted.
‘Germ theory nonsense’
The Medical Council charged Bailey with professional misconduct for a three-part series titled “The Yin and Yang of HIV” and “What We Weren’t Taught About Gonorrhoea”.
The four videos have a combined viewership of nearly 130,000 and are still live on her YouTube channel.
In the first series, Bailey claimed there’s no proof that HIV exists, nor that it is sexually transmitted, and that treatment for it can be toxic and harmful.
“Supporters of the ‘HIV causes Aids’ hypothesis cannot back up their claims with scientific evidence, yet they continue to reject alternative explanations and promote life-threatening drug treatments,” Bailey says in one video.
Bailey claimed that gonorrhea was not sexually transmitted. Photo / YouTube
“It is impossible to claim from epidemiological data that HIV/Aids is an infectious sexually transmitted disease.”
In another video, Bailey claims that gonorrhoea is not sexually transmitted and refers to it as “germ theory nonsense”.
An expert in microbiology and infectious diseases told the tribunal Bailey’s videos had referenced evidence so old and outdated that he was tempted to quote the Bible’s Leviticus at her to be on the same level.
“Old studies and conspiracy theories are emphasised without reference to modern literature,” Dr Timothy Blackmore said, going on to say that Bailey’s videos were “misleading in the extreme”.
Bailey has continued to post videos to her YouTube channel, where she still lists herself as a medical doctor. Though on her website, she notes that she cannot provide specific medical advice to individuals.
However, the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 states that a person may only identify themselves as a health practitioner if they’re registered under the relevant authority.
Bailey did not respond to a request for comment.
Jeremy Wilkinson is an Open Justice reporter based in Manawatū covering courts and justice issues with an interest in tribunals. He has been a journalist for nearly a decade and has worked for NZME since 2022.
