By Brian Flood | Fox News
CBS News has come under fire for a video of a nurse who claimed she quit her job because she was not being protected from coronavirus concerns, before Internet sleuths found that the network may not have properly vetted the story.
On Sunday, CBS News posted a video on Twitter of the teary-eyed nurse who broke down when claiming that she âhad to make a difficult decisionâ and quit her job because America “isnât prepared” to protect the safety of nurses and medical workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
âAmerica is not prepared. And nurses are not being protected,â Imaris Vera said. âI quit my job today. I went into work and I was assigned to a COVID patient on an ICU unit that has been converted to a designated COVID unit. None of the nurses are wearing masks, not even surgical masks in the hallways when theyâre giving reports to each other. I had my own N95 mask. I told my manager, I understand weâre short on supplies, but let me protect myself. Let me feel safe.â
CBS Newsâ@CBSNews
In tears, a nurse says she quit her job after she was asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask: âAmerica is not prepared, and nurses are not being protectedâ https://cbsn.ws/3bH5bya
âI have family that I have to come home to, and the way things are looking, this isnât gonna get any better. America is not prepared,â Vera continued. âAnd nurses are not being protected.â
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CBS Newsâ video featured dramatic music, on-screen graphics and exploded online, accumulating over 8.3 million views on Twitter alone.
One of the viewers was Sen. Bernie Sanders, who shared the video with his 9.5 million followers.
âIt is insane that our nurses are being forced to care for the sick without masks and respirators. The Department of Labor must immediately issue emergency workplace standards to protect our health workers, their families, and their patients,â Sanders wrote.
The Federalist examined the video and looked into Veraâs background, noting her Instagram following and condemning CBS.
âThe video now appears to be inaccurate. Instead of verifying the legitimacy of the video, CBS added background music and captions to highlight a woman who lied about her workplace situation,â The Federalistâs Chrissy Clark wrote.
âPrior to CBS picking up this video, Imaris posted on her public Facebook page that she has anxiety and bi-polar depression and had not been an employee at the hospital for over a year. She mentioned in her post that she was unsure if she was ready to return to her job,â Clarke added. âNurses and medical workers are working tirelessly with inadequate protection gear, and they are the real heroes. For an Instagram âinfluencerâ to deliberately misrepresent her career for the instant glorification of internet fame is sickening.â
CBS News posted follow-up tweets on Monday after receiving backlash for not properly vetting Vera and her claims. CBS News first responded to its own video with a disclaimer that Vera had since âclarified her experienceâ and actually did receive an N95 mask.
“We were each assigned 1 N95 per 1 covid patientâs room but was not allowed to wear it outside of the room, wear our own N95 mask around the Nurses station or Halls, which I came prepared with,” Vera wrote, apparently contradicting the viral video.
CBS Newsâ@CBSNewsReplying to @CBSNews
Imaris Vera, the nurse in this video, clarified her experience on Monday in a tweet: “We were each assigned 1 N95 per 1 covid patientâs room but was not allowed to wear it outside of the room, wear our own N95 mask around the Nurses station or Halls, which I came prepared with.”1,017Twitter Ads info and privacy2,911 people are talking about this
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Writer Jordan Schachtel also condemned the video in a series of tweets.
âSo it turns out this video is entirely fraudulent,â he wrote. âShe had been on the job for a day or two, after taking a year off to pursue something resembling an Instagram model career, and she âquitâ because of the conditions. Deliberate misrepresentation of her career means you cannot take her other statements at face value⌠she is indeed a nurse, albeit one who hasn’t been on the job much. Everything else is lies, exaggerations, and unproven statements.â
Schachtel mocked CBS but added that there are significant issues with the lack of medical supplies in some coronavirus hot spots.
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âPoint of this thread was to expose a fraud. It is not to undermine arguments that medical professionals need more PPE, masks, etc. We all want the best for all of you on the front lines,â he wrote.
The video was criticized across social media both before and after CBS published the clarification:
Dan Crenshawâ@DanCrenshawTXUS House candidate, TX-2
People are so eager to believe in victimhood and wrongdoing that stories like this get published without question. Any decent reporter should have vetted this outlandish story.
But facts donât get the clicks, outrage does.https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/06/cbs-news-posts-fraudulent-video-icu-nurse-crying-over-poor-working-conditions/ âŚ10.2KTwitter Ads info and privacy3,653 people are talking about this
Siraj Hashmiâ@SirajAHashmi
This doesnât seem thoroughly vetted enough. Itâs shoddy journalism to just take one personâs side of the story and present it as the full story. Did CBS News find out where this nurse worked and if her story even checked out before posting this? https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1246804028601896961 âŚ
CBS Newsâ@CBSNews
In tears, a nurse says she quit her job after she was asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask: âAmerica is not prepared, and nurses are not being protectedâ https://cbsn.ws/3bH5bya pic.twitter.com/S5BsnlO5nt1,174Twitter Ads info and privacy310 people are talking about this
Joe Pags Pagliaruloâ@JoeTalkShow
I want you to understand what @CBSNews has become. It’s been widely known for a while now that this is a fraudulent video. Why has CBS not taken it down and apologized yet? https://thefederalist.com/2020/04/06/cbs-news-posts-fraudulent-video-icu-nurse-crying-over-poor-working-conditions/ ⌠https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1246804028601896961 âŚ
CBS Newsâ@CBSNews
In tears, a nurse says she quit her job after she was asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask: âAmerica is not prepared, and nurses are not being protectedâ https://cbsn.ws/3bH5bya pic.twitter.com/S5BsnlO5nt2,009Twitter Ads info and privacy1,154 people are talking about this
Chuck Wooleryâ@chuckwoolery
CBS News Posts Fraudulent Viral Video of Sobbing ICU Nurse Who Quit Her Job Over Poor Working Conditions, Mask Shortage â It Was All a Lie https://bluntforcetruth.com/news/cbs-news-posts-fraudulent-viral-video-of-sobbing-icu-nurse-who-quit-her-job-over-poor-working-conditions-mask-shortage-it-was-all-a-lie/ ⌠pic.twitter.com/v7nHbQGqYr3,101Twitter Ads info and privacy1,735 people are talking about this
Andy Ngoâ@MrAndyNgo
Video popularized by CBS of a crying nurse who said she was assigned to care for a patient without PPE went viral. Not disclosed was her having severe mental health issues. CBS has now had to issue a clarification after her claim was shown to be misleading https://thepostmillennial.com/watch-fake-icu-nurse-lies-about-working-maskless âŚ4,822Twitter Ads info and privacy2,171 people are talking about this
Stephen L. Millerâ@redsteeze
Think maybe this should have happened before you guys blasted her all over the internet? What you do think? https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1247268250926428160 âŚ
CBS Newsâ@CBSNews
Replying to @CBSNewsImaris Vera, the nurse in this video, clarified her experience on Monday in a tweet: “We were each assigned 1 N95 per 1 covid patientâs room but was not allowed to wear it outside of the room, wear our own N95 mask around the Nurses station or Halls, which I came prepared with.”906Twitter Ads info and privacy268 people are talking about this
Jordan Lancaster@jordylancaster
iâm gonna make a video of me crying and say iâm a nurse and see if CBS will post it since i guess theyâre posting random unverified videos now lol https://twitter.com/cbsnews/status/1246804028601896961 âŚ
CBS Newsâ@CBSNews
In tears, a nurse says she quit her job after she was asked to work in a coronavirus ICU without a face mask: âAmerica is not prepared, and nurses are not being protectedâ https://cbsn.ws/3bH5bya pic.twitter.com/S5BsnlO5nt178Twitter Ads info and privacy31 people are talking about this
CBS News later explained that the hospital confirmed she quit her job, but didnât explain why she vacated her position.
âThe hospital, Northwestern Medicine, acknowledged that Imaris Vera had quit her job, but referred CBS News to Vera as to the details of why,â CBS News tweeted.
CBS Newsâ@CBSNewsReplying to @CBSNews
The hospital, Northwestern Medicine, acknowledged that Imaris Vera had quit her job, but referred CBS News to Vera as to the details of why.628Twitter Ads info and privacy986 people are talking about this
Vera has since made her social media accounts private and could not immediately be reached.
CBS News did not immediately respond when asked for comment.
