Physician death cluster at Canadian hospital spurs misinformation campaign

When a Canadian healthcare system lost three doctors to cancer within days in mid-July, misinformation began circulating online that they had died as a result of receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Alarming social media posts included a tweet that read, “THREE doctors at Trillium Health Partners-Missisauga Hospital have died suddenly within a week, apparently after receiving the last mandatory booster,” and another linked the deaths to vaccines with hashtags like #StopTheShots and #VaccineDeaths. the AP reported in a fact check.

According to Trillium Health Partners in Ontario, as well as memorial notes and obituaries, the doctors actually died from unrelated and serious illnesses.

“Trillium Health Partners mourns with deep sadness the loss of three of our physicians who have recently passed away,” a health system spokesman wrote in an emailed statement. “Dr. Jakub Sawicki, Dr. Stephen McKenzie and Dr. Lorne Segall were trusted colleagues committed to caring for their patients and the community.”

“The rumor circulating on social media is simply not true,” the rep added. “Her death was not related to the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Commemorative communications shared internally at Trillium Health Partners and subsequently shared with MedPage today also did not mention that vaccines contributed to any of the doctors’ deaths.

United States today reported that at least one social media post attributing the doctors’ deaths to the COVID-19 vaccine — minus any evidence to support that claim — was shared hundreds of times in its first week.

A GoFundMe page organized by Sawicki’s wife, Iris, noted that the young doctor died on July 19 after being diagnosed with stage IV gastric signet ring cell adenocarcinoma last August.

Iris wrote that her husband’s cancer had spread beyond the wall of his stomach into his abdominal cavity, and that this aggressive form of stomach cancer “does not show symptoms until the disease is advanced.”

Shortly after completing his training, Sawicki had been a member of the surgical assistant team at Trillium Health Partners since 2014. He has also served as Regional Medical Director of Pain Medicine Clinics.

An obituary for McKenzie posted online Aug. 5 says the 68-year-old doctor passed away on July 18 “after a courageous battle with cancer.”

McKenzie enjoyed “a 40-year career as a much-loved and respected neurologist at Trillium Health Partners in Mississauga,” the obituary reads, “where he was a founding member of the Department of Neurology.”

“Always generous with his time caring for patients, he was a leader in the field of multiple sclerosis,” the obituary added.

Segall, an otolaryngologist who was just 49, died on July 17 “after a ridiculously unfair and hard-fought year-long battle with advanced lung cancer,” according to his obituary.

“Lorne was an intelligent clinician and a talented surgeon,” the obituary reads. “He was dedicated to his practice and to helping patients.”

Overall, 82.5% of the Ontario population has been vaccinated against COVID, according to the latest data from Public Health Ontario. In addition, 50.5% received at least one booster shot. Second boosters are available to anyone over the age of 18.