The Lies that Killed Millions
How Scientific Tampering with HCQ Data Fueled a War on Early Treatment
The Lie That Set It All in Motion
In 2020, The Lancet published a study alleging that hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) was not only ineffective against COVID-19—but dangerous. It cited data from Surgisphere, a company helmed by Dr. Sapan Desai.
That flawed paper handed governments, hospitals, media outlets, and so-called “fact-checkers” the perfect excuse to shut down early HCQ treatments. Overnight, clinical trials were scrapped, doctors who dared to speak up were vilified, and patients were denied options that could have saved their lives. When The Lancet finally pulled the study, it was far too late, causing the damage that had already claimed lives, livelihoods, and any remaining trust in a system that pretends to care while quietly serving its own interests.
From Epidemic of Fraud (2025 refresh) on YouTube Broken Truth
The Surgisphere Scandal
Surgisphere claimed it had compiled a vast, global COVID-19 patient database, allegedly drawing from more than 1,000 hospitals. Yet, as The Guardian revealed, the reality was far different. The company employed fewer than a dozen people, including a science-fiction writer and a marketing consultant for adult content, none of whom had a background in healthcare or data science. Hospitals named as contributors denied any participation, and when independent auditors requested access to verify the data, Surgisphere refused, citing “confidentiality.” Despite these glaring red flags, The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine published studies based on this unverifiable database. Only after sustained public scrutiny and mounting evidence of deception were the papers retracted, but by then the damage—to public trust, to scientific integrity, and to patients—had already been done.1
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The Lies Continued Through 2024
In January 2024, Pradelle et al. published a study in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy claiming that the compassionate use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) may have contributed to roughly 16,990 in-hospital COVID-19 deaths across several countries, including Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the USA.2 By August 26, 2024, the paper was retracted after critics exposed unreliable data sources—particularly from Belgium—and flawed assumptions about standardized treatment protocols
The following May, a retrospective analysis in Archives of Public Health reviewed multiple HCQ meta-analyses, including Pradelle et al.’s, and uncovered serious methodological flaws such as misapplied effect sizes and the complete absence of dose-sensitivity considerations. The authors underscored that these issues pointed to systemic weaknesses in scientific publishing, including inadequate transparency, peer review, and data verification.3
They Mocked Providers and Punished Us
This wasn’t just about “fringe doctors”, it was an all-out assault on medical freedom. Pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens refused HCQ prescriptions. Hospitals fired clinicians using alternative protocols. Medical boards suspended licenses. Patients were denied medication, even with court orders. This wasn’t health policy; it was institutional cruelty.
Even the American Pharmacists Association had this to say about filling ivermectin prescriptions. Please read this document as an example of one of the many testimonies that Dr. Kory, on behalf of FLCCC, made to communicate the use of live saving repurposed drugs for treatment of COVID-19. Then there is this example of how the legacy media peddled the narrative smearing doctors and organizations, including FLCCC, for stepping up to help save patients while the system let people perish framing stories from patients “who died” from medications like HCQ.
Families Deserved Better
One example I already documented in a previous blog. In July 2020, retired Air Force veteran Mike Burns entered Eglin AFB Medical Center with COVID-19, trusting the military system he had served for decades. Instead, he was subjected to the rigid “standard protocol” of remdesivir, dexamethasone, and other drugs—while being denied early treatments his wife, Sharon, requested.
Mike’s condition worsened while in their care and within days, he was gone. Sharon never saw a signed DNR, received incomplete records, and still has no full account of what happened. Her story is a powerful reminder of how institutional protocols and lack of transparency can cost lives.
Ralph Lorigo Fought for Patients. The System Shut Him Down
Attorney Ralph Lorigo spent over a year filing emergency injunctions on behalf of families desperate to get early treatment, often ivermectin, for loved ones on ventilators. In many early cases, he won. Hospitals were forced to comply. Patients got better. Read the stories about his court cases here.
Eventually, the system adapted. Judges stopped hearing these emergency cases, and hospitals began openly defying court orders. Patients didn’t die because the treatments were ineffective or dangerous—they died because those treatments were never allowed to be given.
I Was There and I Read Every Cry for Help
For five years, I worked for the FLCCC. I was the first point of contact for thousands of people every week at the height of the pandemic and people sobbing into their emails, begging for someone, anyone, to listen.
“My husband is dying and they won’t even try.”
“I’m a nurse and they’re threatening to fire me for speaking out.”
“Can you help me find a provider who hasn’t sold out?”
The original FLCCC did what we could, and we helped millions of people all over the world get the help they needed.
We Remember What You Did
These studies were far from harmless errors, they became the foundation for suppressing early treatment, emboldening institutional overreach, and silencing clinicians who dared to dissent. Even after their retraction, the damage lingers. Accountability has been nonexistent, with conflicts of interest buried in fine print, while the funding streams that sustain this system continue unimpeded.
We won’t forget the silence from those in power as families were escorted from hospital rooms, or the punitive measures taken against clinicians who chose integrity over compliance. We can’t forget the court orders brushed aside by institutions charged with safeguarding patients, or the countless individuals left struggling for breath while proven treatments were denied. These were not tragic oversights—they were calculated decisions that violated both ethics and humanity, and no belated apology can undo the suffering they caused.
Thank you for reading by blogs and to my paid subscribers, an extra thank you for directly supporting my work. Your commitment makes it possible to keep documenting these stories, exposing the truth, and holding the powerful accountable for their actions.
Share this article with your networks, send it to friends and colleagues, and keep the conversation alive. The more people who understand what happened, the harder it will be for those responsible to bury it.
If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to grab a copy of my book. It’s the resource I wish every patient and family had before the pandemic—and it’s full of the tools you’ll need to navigate a system that too often puts profit over people. Your purchase not only arms you with knowledge but fuels this work for the long fight ahead.
Davey, Melissa, and Stephanie Kirchgaessner. “Governments and WHO Changed COVID‑19 Policy Based on Suspect Data from Tiny US Company.” The Guardian, June 3, 2020. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/03/covid-19-surgisphere-who-world-health-organization-hydroxychloroquine
Pradelle, Alexiane, Sabine Mainbourg, Steeve Provencher, Emmanuel Massy, Guillaume Grenet, Jean-Christophe Lega, et al. “Deaths Induced by Compassionate Use of Hydroxychloroquine during the First COVID-19 Wave: An Estimate.” Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy 171 (February 2024): 116055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2023.116055
Beaudart, Charlotte, Flora Musuamba, Médéa Locquet, Jean-Michel Dogné, Jonathan Douxfils, and others. “Hydroxychloroquine Use During the First COVID-19 Wave: A Case Study Highlighting the Urgent Need to Enhance Research Practices within the Publication Ecosystem.” Archives of Public Health 83, Article 115 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-025-01596-2