VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY, A nurse anesthetist in Virginia has been fired after posting a series of TikTok videos in which she advocated harming U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Malinda Rose Cook, formerly with Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health, posted multiple clips encouraging fellow medics and protesters to inject agents with muscle relaxants and to spray them with poison ivy water.
The healthcare worker was initially suspended by her hospital employer before she was eventually fired and reported to local law enforcement.
“Following an investigation, the individual involved in the social media videos is no longer employed by VCU Health,” the hospital said in a statement. “In addition, VCU Health has fulfilled its reporting requirements under Virginia state law.”
Legal analyst Russ Stone said 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 told WRIC.
In her videos, Cook urged medical providers to fill syringes with saline or succinylcholine, a powerful anesthetic that can paralyze muscles needed for breathing, and use them on federal officers.
In medical settings, the substance is used briefly during surgery and wears off in several minutes, but it can be dangerous if used incorrectly or without proper supervision.
Cook described the method as a “sabotage tactic, or at least scare tactic” against ICE agents.
Although the videos were removed from her TikTok page, a compilation of the footage was reposted on social media.
Conservative outlet Libs of TikTok posted: “Any comment @VCUHealth? How can you have such a vile person working with patients? How can anyone feel safe at your facilities if you employ such people?”
In one since-deleted clip, Cook said, “All the medical providers, grab some syringes with needles on the end. Have them full of saline or succinylcholine… That will probably be a deterrent.”
Cook also advised protesters to gather poison ivy, mix it in water, and spray it at agents, and suggested additional disruptive tactics.
The incident comes amid heightened political tensions in the U.S. related to immigration enforcement and recent viral controversies involving healthcare workers’ online conduct.
Authorities continue to review the matter.
