A Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health nurse has been fired after posting social media videos encouraging medical professionals to harm U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Malinda Rose Cook, who operated a now-deleted TikTok account under the name “Redheadredemption,” shared multiple videos suggesting various methods to incapacitate federal immigration officers. In one video Cook instructed healthcare providers to prepare syringes filled with “saline or succinylcholine… whatever” to use against agents. Succinylcholine is a powerful muscle paralytic used in anesthesia.
In other videos, Cook suggested spraying officers with poison ivy-infused water and encouraged women to use dating apps to meet ICE agents and spike their drinks with laxatives to “get them off the street for the next day.”
VCU Health initially placed Cook on administrative leave while investigating the videos, which they described as “highly inappropriate” and not reflecting “the integrity or values of our health system.” VCU Police assisted with the investigation before the hospital terminated her employment.
Legal analyst Russ Stone told WRIC that prosecutors could potentially charge Cook with solicitation to commit a felony offense. “It’s even more surprising because she’s in the healthcare field, where the Hippocratic Oath says, ‘First, do no harm,'” Stone said. “She’s clearly not following her oath.”
The controversy follows a similar case involving Florida nurse Alexis Lawler, who was fired from Baptist Health Boca Raton Regional Hospital after posting a TikTok wishing severe childbirth injuries on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is currently pregnant. On Wednesday, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced that Lawler is “no longer allowed to practice nursing in Florida” after the Florida Board of Nursing issued an emergency suspension order.
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