This Is Who Columbia Uses to Fight Medical Misinformation
I would like the record to reflect that I did not start this conversation.
I made a fucking video about Lake America.
That was it.
President Trump signs an executive order federally naming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” I think it’s hilarious, I make a video, Canada starts collectively levitating with rage, and I assume we all eventually move on with our lives.
Apparently the fuck not.
Because Doctor Eric Burnett stitched my video.
And somehow we went from Lake America to groceries, gas, healthcare, farms, wars, Epstein, diarrhea, cyclospora lettuce, E. coli blueberries, salmonella eggs, listeria cheese, Argentinian beef and finally—
Fiberglass in IV fluid.
Sir.
I was talking about a fucking lake.
But once a physician starts telling a massive social-media audience that there is a “very real possibility” the IV fluids they receive at a hospital could be contaminated with fiberglass, Nurse Amy unfortunately has to clock the fuck in.
And for a minute, the jokes stop.
Yes, the Baxter Recall Was Real
I am not going to do what the internet does and correct exaggeration with another exaggeration.
There was a real Baxter recall.
On August 25, 2026, Baxter voluntarily recalled two lots of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection, USP, 500 mL, in VIAFLEX plastic containers because of the potential presence of particulate matter identified as fiberglass in the solution.
The FDA published Baxter’s announcement the next day.
The affected lots were:
Y495523
Y495523A
Product code:
2B1323Q
Expiration date:
October 31, 2027
And again, because precision matters:
The fiberglass concern was in the saline solution.
Not merely the packaging.
Not the outside of the bag.
Potential fiberglass particulate was identified in the solution itself.
That is serious.
Baxter warned that intravenous administration of contaminated solution could cause blockage and clotting in blood vessels, potentially cutting off blood flow to vital organs, causing pulmonary embolism, permanent organ damage or death. Baxter also listed vein irritation, inflammatory reactions, worsening of existing infections and allergic reactions among the possible consequences.
Nobody should minimize that.
I certainly fucking won’t.
Now here comes the part that matters just as much.
Two lots.
Not “IV fluids.”
Not Baxter saline generally.
Not every bag hanging in every emergency department.
Not some nationwide hospital roulette wheel where the nurse spikes your bag and everyone whispers a quick prayer that today isn’t fiberglass day.
Two identified lots of one specific 500 mL Baxter saline product.
Baxter instructed facilities to immediately discontinue use and return all affected units.
And as of August 25, 2026, Baxter reported no adverse events associated with the issue.
Those details fucking matter.
Now Let’s Use Doctor Eric’s Actual Words
After stitching my Lake America video, Dr. Burnett said:
“Oh, fiberglass. There’s fiberglass in the IV fluid.”
Then he created a hypothetical patient arriving at the hospital profoundly dehydrated and in kidney failure after nonstop diarrhea.
And then he said:
“There’s a very real possibility the fluids you get to treat your dehydration are going to be contaminated with fiberglass.”
That is where I have a problem.
Show me where the FDA or Baxter said that.
Because the actual recall notice does not tell Americans that if they go to the hospital dehydrated there is a “very real possibility” that the IV fluids administered to them will contain fiberglass.
It identifies two recalled lots.
That distinction is not semantics.
It is the difference between communicating a specific product recall and broadly frightening people about a basic medical treatment.
You Don’t Get to Make IV Saline Scary for a Political Punchline
I’m a nurse.
That does not mean you should believe me simply because I am a nurse.
My credentials are not the receipt.
The FDA notice is the receipt.
Go read it.
That is exactly how this shit is supposed to work.
Because people really do come into hospitals frightened.
They come in dehydrated.
They come in hypotensive.
They come in with acute kidney injuries.
They come in after vomiting and shitting themselves into another fucking dimension.
Sometimes they need IV fluids.
Now imagine one of those patients has watched a physician with a huge platform tell them there is a “very real possibility” their hospital fluids could contain fiberglass that will “shred your insides” and “fill your pulmonary arteries with fiberglass.”
What exactly do we think the average person hears?
Do they hear:
“Baxter voluntarily recalled lots Y495523 and Y495523A of its 500 mL 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection because of potential fiberglass particulate”?
Of course they fucking don’t.
They hear:
There might be fiberglass in the IV fluids at the hospital.
That is why words matter in medicine.
That is why scope matters.
That is why risk communication matters.
Especially when there is an MD attached to the account saying it.
“Shreds Your Insides”
And then we have this beauty.
Dr. Burnett said the fiberglass “shreds your insides and fills your pulmonary arteries with fiberglass.”
The actual Baxter risk statement is already frightening enough.
Particulate matter can obstruct or clot blood vessels.
It can result in pulmonary embolism.
It can cause organ injury.
It can kill you.
That is fucking serious.
We do not need to turn it into Saw VII: Normal Saline.
“Shreds your insides” is not Baxter’s language.
And if the medical facts are already serious, why the fuck do they need theatrical enhancement?
They don’t.
And Then God Handed Me the Funniest Part of the Story
Columbia University Irving Medical Center previously published an entire piece about Dr. Eric Burnett’s work fighting medical misinformation.
Not satire.
Not me being a bitch.
An actual Columbia article.
The article describes Burnett as a physician who took to social media to combat misinformation and advises readers to critically evaluate medical information, check sources, verify claims and spend time fact-checking before sharing things they cannot confirm.
Well.
Here we fucking are.
And I actually agree with him.
Check the source.
Check the data.
Check the dates.
Verify the claim.
Which is precisely why I pulled the actual FDA notice instead of yelling “fake news” because a doctor stitched my pro-Trump video.
The recall happened.
The contamination concern was real.
The possible medical consequences were serious.
And the recall was limited to specifically identified product lots.
All of those things can be true at the same fucking time.
There Were Other Baxter Recalls Too—And This Is Why Details Matter
Baxter also recalled one lot of Anticoagulant Sodium Citrate Solution USP, 250 mL VIAFLEX because of potential fiberglass particulate in the solution.
That product has a completely different intended use: Baxter specifies that it is used with automated apheresis devices and is not for direct intravenous infusion.
Baxter separately recalled a lot of 70% Dextrose Injection involving particulate matter identified as stainless steel, not fiberglass.
Why mention that?
Because when several recalls happen near each other, this is exactly when people need clear fucking information.
Which product?
Which contaminant?
Which lot?
Which route?
What risk?
What has actually been documented?
You cannot just dump all of it into a blender, hit puree and announce:
“Fiberglass in IV fluid.”
Medicine deserves more precision than that.
Patients deserve more precision than that.
Also, How the Fuck Did We Get Here?
I would now like to return to the original topic.
Lake America.
Remember that?
Because I barely fucking do.
We started with Lake America.
Then groceries.
Then gasoline.
Then healthcare.
Then farms.
Then wars.
Then Epstein.
Then diarrhea.
Then lettuce.
Then blueberries.
Then eggs.
Then cheese.
Then Argentinian beef.
Then fiberglass.
Then pulmonary arteries.
Motherfucker, we left Lake America six exits ago.
At some point I expected the executive order to be blamed for male-pattern baldness, Mercury being in retrograde and whatever the fuck happened to Amelia Earhart.
Disagree with Trump.
Disagree with Lake America.
Call the name ridiculous.
Tell me I’m an asshole for loving it.
Canada has apparently established several thousand burner accounts specifically for this purpose. Take a fucking number.
But once we drag medicine into it, I expect accuracy.
Because unlike Lake America, people make real healthcare decisions based on medical information.
And frightening somebody away from appropriate treatment with an exaggerated perception of risk is not funny.
Nurse Amy Has Clocked Out
So congratulations to everyone involved.
I posted a fucking Lake America video.
A doctor stitched it.
And through a chain of events no reasonable human being could have predicted, I spent my afternoon reading FDA recall notices, Baxter lot numbers, expiration dates and particulate-risk statements because apparently somebody needed to determine exactly which fucking saline bags were affected.
For anyone keeping score:
The recall was real.
The potential fiberglass contamination was real.
The potential consequences were serious.
The affected 0.9% sodium chloride product involved two specific lots.
Baxter told facilities to stop using them and return them.
And the recall notice does not establish that Americans going to the hospital currently face some generalized “very real possibility” of receiving fiberglass-contaminated IV fluids.
Precision matters.
Especially in medicine.
Especially when patients may hear you.
And especially when your own fucking public mission involves combating medical misinformation.
Anyway.
I made a fucking Lake America video.
And somehow Nurse Amy ended up clocking in to fact-check a doctor about saline.
What a fucking time to be alive.
Sources
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Baxter Issues Voluntary Nationwide Recall for Two Lots of 0.9% Sodium Chloride Injection Due to Potential Presence of Particulate Matter
Columbia University Irving Medical Center — Medical Misinformation is a Threat to Your Health
https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/medical-misinformation-threat-your-health
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — Baxter Issues Voluntary Nationwide Recall for One Lot of Anticoagulant Sodium Citrate Solution Due to Potential Presence of Particulate Matter