Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

On Twitter, a Jewish doctor tells what it’s like to treat a COVID-19 patient covered in Nazi tattoos

Dr. Taylor Nichols looked at the COVID-19 patient in front of him who was struggling to breathe. As he made preparations to provide emergency medical treatment, he paused. The man was covered in Nazi tattoos.

“Don’t let me die, doc,” the man said to Nichols, breathlessly.

Later, Nichols told the story on Twitter , and it spread across the platform, gathering responses, retweets and “likes” — about 30,000 combined by the end of the day.

Nichols, a Jewish emergency medicine physician in Sacramento, said he has seen and cared for patients with similar tattoos many times throughout his career, but this was the first time he recognized his ambivalence.

In his tweets, Nichols reflected on why the heightened risk associated with the pandemic impacted his response to the tattoos.

He explained that unprecedented fear and uncertainty, as well as many Americans’ rejection of science and COVID-19 safety measures, has taken a toll on him and other healthcare workers on the frontlines.

Nichols said the pandemic has worn on him. But despite his frustration and moment of hesitancy, he and his team worked seamlessly to give the patient the best chance to survive.

In his final tweets, Nichols expressed his feelings of vulnerability.

Nichols has received an overwhelming amount of support from people on Twitter, some of whom are healthcare workers themselves, and some who have lost loved ones to COVID-19. However, some have criticized Nichols for admitting to letting his “personal bias” affect his work, even if it was just a thought.

The Forward has reached out to Nichols, but did not receive an immediate response.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.