Marc Siegel

In his writings and interviews, Siegel criticized public health officials and the press for what he considered to be overreactions to, or excessive focus on, infectious disease outbreaks, such as the swine flu, SARS, and avian influenza outbreaks, arguing that resources should be directed toward other health threats.[2][3] He has written three books promoting this view: False Alarm: the Truth About the Epidemic of Fear (2005),[4] Bird Flu: Everything You Need to Know About the Next Pandemic (2006),[2] and Swine Flu: The New Pandemic (2009). [5] Siegel promoted his book False Alarm in a September 2005 appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.[6]

During the 2009 outbreak of Swine flu, Siegel was a proponent of administering Tamiflu to children at summer camps "where there have been large, confirmed outbreaks"; Siegel said that he respectfully disagreed with the CDC's guidance to limit the use of Tamiflu in camps to conserve limited stockpiles of the drug and prevent the emergence of drug-resistant influenza strains.[7]

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Siegel frequently appeared in conservative media where he pushed medical advice that contradicted CDC guidelines.[8] In a March 2020 appearance on Fox News's Hannity, Siegel incorrectly claimed that COVID-19 "should be compared to the flu. Because at worst, at worst, worst-case scenario it could be the flu."[9][10][11] A study by Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Dolores Albarracín, published in the peer-reviewed Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review in April 2020, identified Siegel's statement as part of a broader set of COVID-19 misinformation circulating in conservative media; the study found that Americans who relied upon Fox News and other right-wing sources for news were more likely to credit conspiracy theories or baseless rumors than Americans who relied upon mainstream sources.[10][12] Author and media analyst Brian Stelter, in his book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, wrote that Siegel's "just-the-flu" claim "was shockingly irresponsible stuff" and that Fox News executives were aware of this, because they had at the time already begun taking precautions.[13]

Siegel has praised President Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.[8] In July 2020, Siegel interviewed Trump on Fox News about the results of his recent cognitive assessment. During the interview, Trump described the test's contents using the phrase "person, woman, man, camera, TV"; Trump's remark went viral and was widely parodied.[14][15]

Siegel criticized President Barack Obama over his Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), a health care reform legislation.[16] In 2017, Siegel wrote an op-ed in the New York Times that criticized the ACA and its essential health benefits provision (which he described as "an overstuffed prix fixe meal filled with benefits like maternity and mental health coverage") and praised the Republican legislation to repeal the ACA.[17] During the repeal debate, Siegel supported Republican legislation that would limit "the menu of essential benefits" and instead create subsidized "high-risk pools" for uninsured patients with pre-existing conditions, although he also opposed "drastic cuts to Medicaid."[17]

In Fox News appearances during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, Siegel fueled unfounded right-wing conspiracy theories suggesting that candidate Hillary Clinton, whom Siegel never examined, had serious illnesses that raised questions about her physical fitness for office.[18][19][20]

In The Inner Pulse: Unlocking the Secret Code of Sickness and Health (2011),[21] Siegel posits perceptible but ineffable and immeasurable "essential life force" "where the physical and the spiritual combine" which he has come to listen to and learn from and whose guidance he follows, advising readers to engage in practices to strengthen and focus it for use in overcoming disease and healing.

Siegel has hosted the SiriusXM radio show Doctor Radio Reports [22] twice a week since March 2020, focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the efficacy of public health efforts to neutralize it.