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Who is Olivia Tyler? Nurse 'cries' in TikTok video after patient dies, slammed for 'performative garbage'

'I understand raising awareness on difficulties of a healthcare professional but this feels like patient was exploited for likes, views,' a user said

Olivia Tyler, a 33-year-old nurse, and a TikToker have been criticized heavily for uploading a clip on her TikTok profile just after her patient died. Social media users denounced her for showing a lack of empathy and questioned her real identity. The clip which has recently gone viral across all social media platforms was uploaded on June 17. Her TikTok handle ‘Olivia tylerr33,’ headlined, ‘it never gets easier.’ “Lost a patient today,” states the video’s caption as she paces back and forth in the hospital hallway. It quickly went viral, and also many replies were empathetic, describing the difficulties of being such a healthcare practitioner. 

After facing such a huge backlash, the nurse deleted the video but it was already too late. Other TikTok profiles have indeed ‘dueted’ the post in order to draw attention and give their responses to it. “When a person dies, their first idea is to film, edit, and publish a TikTok for comments. And exposure,” TikToker marc0p0l0o3 explained. Olivia has not explicitly replied to the harsh remarks. But several of her later TikTok videos are littered with responses citing a new posting. 

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Over the video, an emotional song plays, “I put my armor on, show you how strong I am. I put my armor on, I’ll show you that I am. I’m unstoppable.” People condemned the idea of making a video at such a time and also said that it was insulting to the patient and the patient's family. While some people pointed out and questioned if the video was fabricated or not, others challenged if a patient truly perished. 

The Twitter users also did not wait for much longer and made sure that their voices are heard. A viral tweet that has more than 14 million views said reposted the video with the caption “Aw man can’t believe my patient died let me go make a tiktok rq [real quick].” 

Another Twitter user wrote, “I understand raising awareness on the difficulties of being a healthcare professional but this feels like a patient was just exploited for likes and views. There are other ways to share experiences, this way was not tasteful,” 

Some of the nurses also expressed their views and gave their opinions related to this issue. “Not a single nurse does this ever. We have several patients to care for and when we’re dealing with patient A, we’re thinking about patient B and C. No time for this and quite frankly you get very hardened to death. This is attention-seeking 101,” @Ray82253885 wrote. "Sad people don't set up a camera to record their grief," wrote another user.

Another nurse who goes by the Twitter handle @anccpt tweeted “I had a lot of people die on my watch during the pandemic- Like a LOT; and this type of performative garbage makes me furious on a level I can’t articulate,”. 

TikTok has always been at the center of controversies, mainly because of the stupid and irrational content that users upload on this social media platform. This is not the first time, however, a nurse has been involved in such a conflict. In 2021, a nurse was punished after allegedly mistreating patients in films that were ultimately revealed to be pranks.