Ohio to decide next week on suspending license of doc who said coronavirus vaccines magnetize people

COLUMBUS, Ohio – After more than two years and 350 written complaints filed when Dr. Sherri Tenpenny publicly claimed to Ohio lawmakers that COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous treatments that magnetize recipients, the state will decide next week whether to strip her of her medical license.

A hearing examiner at the State Medical Board, which regulates physicians, proposed an indefinite license suspension and a $3,000 fine for Tenpenny, who dragged the state into a viral moment and subsequent national mockery when she told the House Health Committee that the vaccines cause ALS and cancer, and other patently untrue and bizarre claims.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots and now they’re magnetized,” Tenpenny said to the panel of lawmakers in June 2021.

“They can put a key on their forehead and it sticks … There have been people who have long suspected there’s an interface, yet to be defined, an interface between what’s being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers.”

Her comments came in the early stages of one of the most significant mass immunization campaigns in human history, as COVID-19 vaccines had recently become available to the general public. Tenpenny proved to be a harbinger of resistance to COVID-19 vaccination among conservatives, often predicated on fringe scientific claims of alleged dangers from the jabs. They also came as medical boards around the country struggled with how to address licensed physicians spreading bunk health information during an emergency.

Tenpenny has long worked as an influencer of sorts in anti-vaccination corners of the internet. She operates various businesses revolving around “alternative” treatments in lieu of vaccination. She does media appearances with conservative conspiracy theorists, including Mike Lindell and Alex Jones. In a tweet earlier this year, she referred to COVID-19 vaccinations as “#Genocide.”

The State Medical Board is scheduled to meet Aug. 9 and is expected to act on its staff’s recommendations to suspend Tenpenny.

Technically, Tenpenny isn’t facing consequences for her comments on vaccines. Rather, she’s accused of evading repeated attempts by the board to speak with her, depose her, or have her answer formal written questions, some of which revolved around her attitudes toward vaccination. A copy of the examiner’s report and recommendation, dated July 14, was obtained Friday in a public records request.

Tenpenny alleged the investigation was based upon her dissemination of “misinformation or disinformation or unapproved information about the COVID-19 vaccines; and or political speech disapproved by the board.” She didn’t specify what statements she was referring to.

Rep. Jennifer Gross, a West Chester Republican who has championed several pieces of anti-vaccine legislation, invited Tenpenny to address the House Health Committee where she delivered her remarks at issue. Gross and Tenpenny’s attorney, anti-vaccine activist Tom Renz, have announced plans to hold a press conference next week outside the Board of Medicine as the members inside weigh Tenpenny’s fate to protest what they deemed a “witch hunt.”

After Tenpenny made the comments that sparked her regulatory problems, she showed no signs of regret. Despite lampooning media coverage, Tenpenny emailed Gross to thank her for being “strong and brave” in allowing her to testify, according to The Ohio Capital Journal. Tenpenny doubled down on her theories.

“Don’t let them bully you or disparage me,” Tenpenny wrote. “We’re on to something here… and the LOUDER they scream, the more they are trying to hide. I stand by everything I said today. I put out FACTS and HYPOTHESIS (points to ponder),” she wrote. “God Wins.”

According to the state, an investigator first emailed Tenpenny and left her receptionist his business card in July 2021, with no response. Tenpenny said she didn’t get the email or his card. By September 2021, the investigator sent her written questions regarding vaccination and purported adverse reactions.

“The [questions] also asked Dr. Tenpenny what scientific evidence she had … regarding COVID-19 vaccines causing people to become magnetized or creating an interface with 5G towers; regarding the COVID-19 vaccine not injecting a real virus but strips of genetic material and patients suffering complications…and regarding some major metropolitan areas liquifying dead bodies and pouring them into the water supply,” the board’s report states.

Tenpenny refused to comply with an October 2021 demand that she appear for a deposition. She claimed she never received a June 2022 letter directing her to appear for an investigative office conference. Her attorneys avoided the board’s specific allegations, and neither of her two attorneys attended Tenpenny’s second hearing. Renz attributed this to a back injury and not putting the hearing in his calendar.

Renz wrote the board a letter calling its questions “invasive, irrelevant” and a “bad faith and unjustified assault on her licensure, livelihood and constitutional rights.” He said her statements about vaccines were “based on factual reports by third parties – including peer reviewed studies published in mainstream medical journals.” He made similar arguments throughout the process.

Along with Tenpenny, Renz has represented clients filing lawsuits challenging several COVID-19 related rules with no success. He too testified to a House committee on vaccine policy, in testimony that YouTube removed from its video hosting site for violating its COVID-19 misinformation policy.

According to her filings, Tenpenny has spent 22 years and more than 50,000 hours researching “problems associated with vaccines.” Between March 2020 and December 2021 she said she participated in more than 600 interviews on COVID-19.

In its ruling, the board acknowledged a reasonable person might look at its written questions and assume they were investigating her medical practices. But failing to adhere to minimal standards of care can be unlawful, it stated, and the fact that staff asked Tenpenny to cite her sources indicates at least a willingness to consider her claims.

“In short, Dr. Tenpenny did not simply fail to cooperate with a Board investigation, she refused to cooperate,” the board summary states. “And that refusal was based on her unsupported and subjective belief regarding the Board’s motive for the investigation. Licensees of the Board cannot simply refuse to cooperate in investigations because they decide they do not like what they assume is the reason for the investigation.”

Along with her medical practice, Tenpenny earns revenue from different aspects of anti-vaccination commerce. She sells shirts that say “unmasked, unvaccinated, unafraid.” She wrote a book titled “Saying no to Vaccines: A Resource Guide for All Ages.” And she offers a related “boot camp” as well.

Jake Zuckerman covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.