One of the more dangerous bills in the history of modern medicine is currently making its way through the California Legislature, and if passed, it would allow the state to strip the medical license of any physician or surgeon who does not blindly agree to official state policies.
Born out of the pandemic, California Assembly Bill 2098 proposes that physicians who deviate from an authorized set of beliefs would do so at the risk of losing their medical license. In the age of disinformation and fake news, we can at least understand where the base of this bill was formed. Nobody wants someone to be harmed as a result of misinformation, sham science or a snake oil salesman who cares more about their bottom line than providing the right care for their patient. Knowingly going against best practices seemingly has the potential to cause problems.
However, if the COVID-19 pandemic, and the history of medicine itself has taught us anything, it’s that best practices are always being improved, and more often than not, that only happens when someone dares to think outside the box or challenge the current standard with a fresh set of ideas. That’s how medical innovation occurs. Without free thought and the ability to step back and say “Are we absolutely sure we cannot find an even better solution to the problem,” we’d never make the medical breakthroughs that are saving more lives each and every day.
This new bill threatens to take away that free thought, that ability to innovate, and the chance to potentially save countless lives because we would now have to take what the state says as the absolute and unquestioned truth. If we dare try to improve on the given standard, our professional licenses can be stripped by the state. Simply put, this bill cannot pass.
California Assembly Bill 2098
California Assembly Bill 2098 uses the COVID-19 pandemic as its crutch to create a broad generalization that would allow the state to strip the medical license of any doctor that questions the so called “authorized set of beliefs.” It suggests that physicians who “disseminate or promote misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19, including false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines” would be subject to “disciplinary action,” which could result in the loss of their medical license.
In other words, if this bill were law, any doctor who even questioned if the mass lockdowns and school shutdowns we experienced during COVID-19 were having unintended consequences could have had their medical license stripped for not blindly falling in line with orders. The more we experience the pandemic, the more we’re learning that we could have handled things better had we known what we know now.
Politicians cannot be allowed to muzzle doctors with laws that label medical opinions as misinformation. It’s an infringement on freedom of thought and expression. At times it’s important to disagree with the majority opinion and combat it with an intelligent argument, as that discussion is vital to outlining the strong and weak points of both sides. It ensures we don’t blindly follow, as following blindly has an awful history in medicine.
In 1850, Ignaz Semmelweis demanded that doctors wash their hands after performing autopsies and before examining women in delivery. He was harassed, demonized, forced out of his work and eventually imprisoned in an insane asylum and died two weeks later for his views. He wasn’t the first, but he was the most vocal. Countless people suffered from unnecessary infections and died until other doctors finally accepted what we now know to be true.
This blog strives to avoid politics, and anyone who knows me personally knows that I will willingly challenge them in person. My small private orthopedic practice is a place people find to get another unique opinion. I am proud to provide this service to the Upper Midwest and to Minnesotans. I am proud to challenge the standard in order to provide the best care for my patients. But the danger posed with this bill has grown too severe.
There is a poem about the Holocaust that has always resonated inside me:
First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.
~Martin Niemöller
As a Young Jewish boy reading that poem in school I promised myself when the time came I would have the courage and I would speak out. That time has come.
This California bill must be obliterated and any such attempts thwarted. We need to send the message loud and clear. Silencing doctors who disagree with the government and politicians is unacceptable and we, the people of the United States, will not allow it. The mere audacity of this lawmaker to bring something so vile as infringement of medical opinion and expression is so far from good practice that it violates all that we have learned to cherish and rely on to protect patients. It is exactly the opposite of the scientific process.
Labeling doctors who disagree with an opinion is not only harmful to the doctor, it has the power to create exponential damage to patients that will make the more than 1,000,000 deaths from and related to the COVID-19 pandemic look like a drop in the bucket. Tolerance of a different viewpoint is essential. The only thing we shouldn’t tolerate is intolerance, especially by the political class.
Please help to spread the word on the potential harm of this bill and let’s ensure it doesn’t become law.
Lance Silverman M.D.
