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Over the weekend, President Donald Trump posted — and then deleted — a fake Fox News clip showing himself seated in the Oval Office, explaining that a breakthrough medical device called the “medbed” was now available to all U.S. citizens.
In the video, which appeared to be generated by artificial intelligence, Fox host Lara Trump announces that the president was debuting “an historic new health care system” in which “medbed cards” are granted to U.S. citizens for use at “medbed hospitals.”
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“You’ll have guaranteed access to our new hospitals led by the top doctors in the nation,” Trump says in the fake clip, posted to his Truth Social page. The beds, he explains, are “designed to restore every citizen to full health and strength.”
The problem is that they do not exist.
The White House has yet to explain why the president of the United States would fuel speculation about a completely fantastical health care treatment. HuffPost did not receive a response to a request for comment.
The idea of a “medbed” — a magical hospital bed that cures any ailment, can regrow a limb or even reverse aging — is simply a fantasy dreamed up by conspiracy theorists in fringe online communities, like QAnon.
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(QAnon is the conspiracy theory that posits a bloodthirsty cabal of shadowy elites is running a global child sex-trafficking ring, but that Trump is attempting to dismantle it.)
Before Trump won his second term, medbed believers claimed that he would make them free for all Americans if he became president again.
Proponents claim that the beds are already available for the world’s wealthy elite, who are gatekeeping the technology from the rest of humanity.
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While specific beliefs vary, some say the beds were developed by the U.S. military, possibly with alien technology, according to The Associated Press. Believers reportedly discuss them on TikTok, Facebook and in Telegram channels devoted to alternative medicine.
One combat veteran who spoke with The New York Times last year described learning about medbeds through a right-wing social platform called Patriot Party News. He told the outlet about some of the reactions he had heard from others on the platform: “Medbeds are finally coming. I hope I can get my mom to the front of the line since she’s Stage 4.”
Another person reportedly said she needed an appointment for her husband, who’d had a stroke.
In the absence of the type of government-run “medbed hospitals” described in Trump’s post, a small number of companies have stepped up to sell a sort of medbed experience.
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One such company, called Tesla BioHealing, sells at-home treatments and appointments at one of several “medbed” locations around the country. (Despite the name, it is not related to the electric car manufacturer.) During a $120 two-hour “cellular recharge session” in Butler, Pennsylvania, Tesla BioHealing claims you will receive “large quantities of Life Force Energy that the cells of your body can use as at will and as needed to begin recharging and repairing your system.”
A BBC reporter who tried the treatment said it was provided in a motel room in small-town Illinois. He was shown to a room where the company’s “medbed” containers were sitting underneath the bed, but left feeling “distinctly lacking in life force energy.”
One at-home product sold by Tesla BioHealing amounts to four blocks meant to be placed around an individual’s bed, allowing their bodies to “absorb biophoton energy for deep restoration.” It costs $7,999. A similar product is priced at $11,000.
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Anti-science beliefs are nothing new. But they rocketed to greater prominence with the rise of internet message boards and social media. The COVID-19 pandemic provided additional fuel, as elected officials including Trump encouraged their constituents to “do their own research” into alternate therapeutics and cast doubt on expert medical advice. Skepticism in mainstream medicine has only proliferated since then, culminating with vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. taking over the nation’s health department in Trump’s second term.
People who believe in bogus medical remedies sometimes decide to turn down real, science-backed treatments when they have life-threatening conditions, leading to unnecessary suffering and death.
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