Former TVNZ presenter and doctor Samantha Bailey taken to tribunal for claiming HIV doesn’t exist

A former TVNZ presenter and doctor has claimed, in a series of YouTube videos that garnered thousands of views, that HIV doesn't exist and gonorrhoea isn't sexually transmitted.

Samantha Bailey, who was previously one of four presenters on the TVNZ health series The Checkup, has worked in a range of healthcare roles.

She references her medical experience on her YouTube channel where she has uploaded 142 videos that discuss a range of health issues to her 352,000 subscribers.

Bailey's medical registration was cancelled after she posted a series of 23 videos, questioning the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccine, to the same channel.

Those videos racked up close to 18 million views and she was ordered to pay $148,000 in fines and legal fees.

On Tuesday, a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal hearing focused on four of her videos, which allegedly spread misinformation about the HIV/Aids virus and the sexually transmitted infection gonorrhoea.

In a three-part series titled "The Yin and Yang of HIV", Bailey claims there's no proof it exists, nor that it is sexually transmitted, and that treatment for it can be toxic and harmful.

Bailey claimed that diagnostic tests for the virus are inherently unreliable and that "the same person tested in three cities on the same day may or may not be HIV infected".

"Supporters of the HIV causes Aids hypothesis cannot back up their claims with scientific evidence, yet they continue to reject alternative explanations and promote life-threatening drug treatments," she claims in the videos that have a combined 70,000 views.

"…it is impossible to claim from epidemiological data that HIV/Aids is an infectious sexually transmitted disease."

According to the World Health Organisation, HIV is an infection that can turn into Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (Aids) if left untreated. The virus can be transmitted via sexual intercourse.

Internationally, there were nearly 40 million people living with HIV at the end of 2023, and a further 42 million have died since the epidemic began in the 1980s.

A second video titled "What We Weren't Taught About Gonorrhoea" has 64,000 views and claims that the infection is not sexually transmitted and refers to it as "germ theory nonsense".

Bailey also claims that historical results regarding the existence of gonorrhoea had a "spin" put on them to "dial up the fear".

Bailey wasn't registered as a doctor for several months when she published the videos from March to May 2022.

At today's hearing, which Bailey did not turn up to, the Medical Council levelled charges of professional misconduct against her on the basis the videos amounted to malpractice and negligence.

Abigail Brand, counsel for the Professional Conduct Committee pressing charges, said Bailey had published harmful information under the guise of it being "self-styled health videos".

"The PCC submits that numerous statements have been made that are inaccurate and misleading," Brand said.

"Ms Bailey's statements go beyond the realm of legitimate scientific debate and pose a risk to the public."

Brand said that while everyone has the right to freedom of speech, medical professionals, as per their code of ethics, have a limitation on this right and any robust debate they engage in must be well-founded, and expressed in a balanced way.

In addition, Brand said that Bailey stood to profit from the videos with advertising revenue, by requesting donations for her work and by promoting her book.

Bailey didn't engage with the committee's investigation, which occurred at the same time as she was being investigated for spreading Covid misinformation on the same YouTube channel.

Rabbit holes and conspiracy theories

Dr Timothy Blackmore, an infectious disease and microbiology expert with a research interest in sexually transmitted infections, was called as a witness where he said he'd reviewed Bailey's videos and found them "misleading in the extreme" and that she'd been highly selective in the information she'd used.

"Old studies and conspiracy theories are emphasised without reference to modern literature," he said.

"I think she's gone down a rabbit hole of an argument that was done and dusted in the 1990s."

Blackmore was asked by the tribunal how far Bailey was from presenting a balanced view in her videos.

"I have been downplaying how ridiculous her statements are," he replied.

"It's almost insulting to my patients and my practice, implying that I must be ill informed and moronic to do these things to patients."

Blackmore said that all of Bailey's claims in her videos were inaccurate and said that HIV was known to cause Aids, and that tests to detect it were reliable and to claim otherwise was inaccurate and could discourage proper treatment and prevention.

The tribunal asked how damaging it would be if people believed the information in Bailey's videos.

"One would be that they may not have any trust in the health system, but even worse they may not even come forward for testing," Blackmore said, noting that medical practitioners had focused on de-stigmatising people who are infected with HIV, so that they do come forward for help.

"That's the most insulting part, her comments are so stigmatising."

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.