‘Syringes and poison ivy’: Virginia nurse sharing videos for ICE ‘sabotage’ fired by VCU Health

A VCU Health nurse was terminated after viral videos showed her advising on methods to harm and incapacitate ICE agents. The nurse suggested using syringes with anesthetics and poison ivy in water guns, and spiking drinks with laxatives. VCU Health stated the content was inappropriate and did not align with their values, initiating an investigation.

Melinda Cook, a Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health nurse has been fired after multiple videos of her sharing ‘resistance tips’ to ‘sabotage’ ICE agents went viral online. On a now-deleted TikTok account, Cook shared videos encouraging medical harm to ICE agents, the hospital said in a statement. The nurse came under investigation after her videos were shared on X by the account ‘LibsofTikTok’, prompting an internal investigation and drawing massive flak online.

The viral videos

In one video captioned ‘#ice #resistance #sabotage’ Cook shared with viewers what she described as a “sabotage tactic” against ICE agents. “Sabotage tactic, or at least scare tactic. All the medical providers, grab some syringes with needles on the end.” She advised filling the syringes with “saline or succinylcholine” or anything that will be a “deterrent.” Succinylcholine is an anaesthetic that causes rapid, short-term muscle paralysis lasting for four to six minutes. In another video captioned ‘#resist’ the nurse suggested collecting “poison ivy or poison oak” from their yards. “Get some of that, with gloves, obviously, and get it in some water. Like a gallon of water. And get the poison ivy oak water and I’m going to put it into a water gun. Aim for faces, hands,” she said. In a third video, Cook suggested the single ladies in Minnesota to “get on Tinder, get on Hinge, find these guys, they are around.” She suggested spiking the ICE agent’s drink with “Ex-Lax” to get them sick. “You know, nobody’s going to die. Just enough to incapacitate them and get them off the street for the next day. Highly, easily deniable.”

VCU Health issues statement

VCU Health issued a statement on Tuesday sharing that Cook was “no longer employed” by them and that they have fulfilled the reporting requirements under the Virginia state law. The statement also said that the hospital and VCU police began the investigation after the nurse went viral on X. “We prioritise the health and safety of anyone who comes to us for care. We are aware of a series of videos that appear to have been posted by an individual confirmed to be an employee of our health system. The content of the videos is highly inappropriate and does not reflect the integrity or values of our health system,” VCU added. Recently, numerous medical nurses have been exposed on social media by ‘LibsofTikTok’ for suggesting ways of medical harm and resistance towards ICE and officials of the Trump administration. The series of incidents began with a Florida nurse, Lexie Lawler, who was fired for posting a TikTok video wishing serious injuries to pregnant White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Later, another Florida nurse, Erik Martindale was also exposed by the popular X account for his Facebook post announcing he would not perform anaesthesia for any medical procedures and surgeries for MAGA. “I will not perform anaesthesia for any surgeries or procedures for MAGA. It is my right, it is my ethical oath and I stand behind my education. I own all of my businesses and I can refuse anyone!” he captioned the post.