Photo: Tennessee House of Representatives & Representative John Ragan ; Photo Credit: John Partipilo & capitol.tn.gov
By Anita Wadhwani [The Tennessee Lookout CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] –
Tennessee Republican Rep. John Ragan has demanded that a state medical board remove a policy statement from its website that warns physicians who spread “misinformation” regarding COVID-19 vaccines risk disciplinary action.
In a letter sent Monday to Dr. Melanie Blake, president of the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, Ragan instructed the statement be deleted “without delay.”
“If you fail to act promptly, your organization will be required to appear before the Joint Government Operations Committee to explain your inaction,” wrote Ragan, the committee’s House chair, in the Nov. 15 letter obtained by the Tennessee Lookout.
Newly enacted legislation, signed by Gov. Bill Lee on Nov. 12, bars licensing boards such as the Board of Medical Examiner from disciplining doctors for “spreading misinformation or dispensing unproven medications for COVID-19” unless the board creates special rules. Those rules must be approved by lawmakers. The legislation was aimed directly at repealing the board’s actions.
The policy, which remained posted board’s website Friday morning, was adopted by the 12-member board in September and says, in full:
“Physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical board, including the suspension or revocation of their medical license. Due to their specialized knowledge and training, licensed physicians possess a high degree of public trust and therefore have a powerful platform in society, whether they recognize it or not.
They also have an ethical and professional responsibility to practice medicine in the best interests of their patients and must share information that is factual, scientifically grounded and consensus-driven for the betterment of public health. Spreading inaccurate COVID-19 vaccine information contradicts that responsibility, threatens to further erode public trust in the medical profession and puts all patients at risk.”
**** CLICK HERE to support Conservative Journalism in Tennessee. We bring you stories like this without your support!
Ragan’s letter references prior correspondence with Blake. An email from Blake to Ragan on Nov. 9 “indicates you do not plan to even consider action until January of 2022. Such delay is unacceptable given the issue was brought to your attention…three weeks ago.”
The Government Operations Committee is next scheduled to convene for a routine review of proposed rules on December 15. The Board of Medical Examiners is already scheduled to appear on that date.
Efforts to reach members of the board have thus far been unsuccessful.
Physicians and hospital groups opposed legislation that would strip the medical board of its powers to discipline doctors who spread COVID disinformation.
“If the board cannot exert its influence appropriately in the policing of our profession, we are losing our autonomy and the trust of our patients,” said Dr. Amy Bono, a Nashville physician.
Anita Wadhwani is a senior reporter for the Tennessee Lookout. The Tennessee AP Broadcasters and Media (TAPME) named her Journalist of the Year in 2019 as well as giving her the Malcolm Law Award for Investigative Journalism. Wadhwani is formerly an investigative reporter with The Tennessean who focused on the impact of public policies on the people and places across Tennessee. She is a graduate of Columbia University in New York and the University of California at Berkeley School of Journalism. You can contact Wadhwai at awadhwani@tennesseelookout.com.
4 Responses
Re: “ Republican Lawmaker Demands Medical Board End Disciplining Doctors For “COVID Misinformation”, this must be done. The government should not be a mediator between a physician and a patient! Healthcare is not “one size fits all” and who is the government to decide what treatments are sanctioned?
Case in point, this recent AP article expressing surprise over the fact that there’s basically no covid in Africa. https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-science-health-pandemics-united-nations-fcf28a83c9352a67e50aa2172eb01a2f?fbclid=IwAR1fQtAvhQ3StIw0S4zO_lrvbn2iCP7LeASRFpaH8fr2PNGQucfVKBNoNG8
The article fails to mention that on a regular basis Africans take HCQ as a malaria preventative. HCQ has been banned by the government in the United States in favor of the government-owned Moderna jab.
Perhaps other patients and physicians are aware of this article: https://www.skirsch.com/covid/All.pdf and choose the other proven healing modalities for Covid. People should have that freedom!
How do the Medical Boards know which is “misinformation” and what isn’t? They change their stories on a weekly basis. They don’t have a clue. All they know is the money will stop flowing if they don’t toe the line.
Remember–What is Disinformation today is Fact tomorrow. Stop the persecutions of good Doctors. If they were Good before the Wuhan Red Death that are Good now.
Medical boards are abusing their power and ignoring the 21st Centuries Cares Act signed by Obama in December of 2016, which states that existing drugs can be approved for use with real world data such as observational studies, insurance claims data, patient input and anecdotal evidence. Unfortunately the CDC and the FDA are also denying this law. Doctors need to the freedom to practice medicine and it’s the two latter federal government agencies that are the greatest abusers of all. Freedom must prevail or we all lose. The current “vaccine” mandate does not follow the science of real vaccines and this is obvious to anyone with critical thinking skills. Please stand up against tyranny and call on me for help if needed.
Frank Glinski RN
Frankamunus@gmail.com