November 30, 2021

The following statement was sent to me and other members of the medical staff at a local hospital in October 2021 by its Executive Committee after approval at a Medical Staff meeting:

“In early September, the Federation of State Medical Boards, as well as the American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, and American Board of Pediatrics, issued a statement about vaccine misinformation.  They stated that providing misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine contradicts physicians’ ethical and professional responsibilities, and therefore may subject a physician to disciplinary action, including suspension or revocation of their medical license.

In support of this position, the Medical Staff voted to issue the following statement:

We believe that distribution of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation by a physician or advance practice provider via any means is contrary to the known science and the best interests of patients.  Such conduct is also inconsistent with our standard and those practitioners may be subject to Medical Staff action….”

It is no small thing to imperil a physician’s livelihood, practice, medical license, and family over differences of opinion regarding optimal treatment for a particular condition.  That, however, is precisely what this particular hospital has done.  Specifically, they threatened physicians with “disciplinary action including suspension or revocation of their medical license” for the crime of “[distributing]… Covid-19 vaccine misinformation.” 

There are intense debates surrounding the vaccine, its efficacy, how long the immunity lasts — particularly as the virus evolves — its experimental nature, its “Emergency Use Authorization,” and its serious side effects and adverse reactions, including death, that have been well documented.  Many who have already been vaccinated still contract and spread the virus and fall ill from it.  Tens of millions of Americans, previously infected, have “natural immunity,” which is far broader and more durable, and do not require the vaccine.  The recovery rate for patients under seventy and in good health is 99.95%, better than the flu, and many choose not to get the vaccine for varying reasons, including risk-benefit analysis, concerns over potential complications, religious and medical objections, or personal choice.  Patients under age 18 have far more risk from the vaccine than from COVID, for example.  There have been some 17,000 deaths attributable to the vaccine, of all ages, but many believe that the numbers are much higher, even as much as 150,000, along with other serious complications such as thromboembolic phenomena, myo-endo-pericarditis, menstrual irregularities, stroke, myocardial infarction, and others.

Further, the various vaccines are not “vaccines” as commonly understood but “gene therapy,” mRNA platforms that insert themselves into our DNA.  They then harness our own cellular machinery to produce the infamous “spike protein” to be distributed throughout the body eliciting the immune response, but sometimes with devastating consequences, as we have learned.  A vaccine generally takes four-six years of development before being released.  The COVID vaccine coming out in just a few months meant bypassing the usual safeguards that serve to protect the public before a new drug or vaccine is brought to market.  Further, the principle of “bodily integrity” or “bodily autonomy,” or the right to do what we wish with our bodies (within reason), is settled law in this country based on a number of Supreme Court decisions, including Cruzan, Griswold, Casey, Loving, Roe, and others.  Beyond that, the right to one’s own “personhood,” the right to the possession and control of one’s own body and person, free of restraint or interference, including the right to choose not to receive a medicine or vaccine, is as foundational as the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  The right to self-govern and the freedom to choose is implied in our Constitution and, hence, a constitutional right.  Beyond that, it is a God-given, natural right.