Tennessee Bills Would Shield Docs Who Spread COVID Misinformation

 This week, two Tennessee state representatives introduced bills that would restrict the state's physician licensing board when attempting to discipline doctors who spread inaccurate information about COVID-19 and COVID vaccines.

Katrina Green, MD, is concerned about the bills. She is an emergency physician in Nashville and Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, and also part of a group called Protect Our Care, which advocates for public health measures in the state.

"It's kind of a dangerous time to be a physician -- or really a person -- in Tennessee," Green said.

She's treated COVID patients throughout the pandemic and said it's been frustrating to combat what her patients have heard about the vaccine. She said the board should be able to curb the ability of doctors to mislead patients:

"I think it's very important that the state medical board continue to have the powers to investigate doctors and nursing board nurses who spread misinformation and lies relating to COVID and the pandemic."

"And right now we have that ability, but this bill would strip it out from us," Green continued. "How do we hold someone accountable if we don't have that ability?"

State representatives Chris Todd (R) and Debra Moody (R) introduced the bills on October 28. Rep. Todd's bill, the Tennessee COVID-19 Treatment Freedom Act, would prevent the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners from disciplining doctors for anything "solely related to the physician's prescription, recommendation, use, or opinion relative to a treatment for COVID-19," including treatments that aren't approved by the state's health department or the FDA.

"Doctors in this state have been handed an unconstitutional ultimatum from a board that has repeatedly exceeded its legal authority," Todd told MedPage Today via email. "As representatives of the people, we must do everything in our power to rein in this abuse and restore the liberties and freedoms our physicians are guaranteed under our constitution.

"My bill not only does that, but it also guarantees the ability for doctors to practice as they are licensed and trained for treatment of COVID-19 just like any other illnesses they treat on a daily basis," he continued. "We've never seen restrictions on physicians like we have in the last 18 months."

Todd added that the bill, House Bill 9020, will be added as an amendment to another bill, House Bill 9077, which would allow employees fired for refusing a COVID-19 vaccine to receive unemployment benefits.

Rep. Moody's bill further expands on this bill, specifying the types of disciplinary actions that could be taken by the board. If passed, House Bill 9028 would prevent those actions "so long as the physician exercised independent medical judgment and believes that the medical treatment is in the best interest of the patient," and the patient consents.

These bills are likely a result of a new policy from the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, who discipline physicians who break professional standards, which was adopted on September 21 in an effort to rein in doctors who spread false information about the vaccine in their offices, on social media, or elsewhere.

The policy states that physicians "who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards," including a suspended or revoked license. The policy says that doing so contradicts physicians' duty to protect patients using the latest scientific consensuses, "threatens to further erode public trust in the medical profession and puts all patients at risk."

Green said she is worried that because of a Republican super-majority in the state government, the bills will become law, along with others that aim to restrict mask and vaccine requirements, and restrict the governor's state-of-emergency powers.

"I'm very worried that they will all pass," Green said.

David Aronoff, MD, director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (and a MedPage Today editorial board member), said he thought the sponsors of the bill were making the case that the regulatory board shouldn't regulate practitioners' opinions.

"I think the boards aren't trying to discipline people on the basis of having opinions based on their experience and expertise," but that instead intervening when a licensed healthcare provider "is stating falsehoods or doing things that are clearly against standard of care," he said.

Green is concerned that the bills, if passed, could allow doctors more leeway to argue that false vaccine claims are "opinions." She gave the example of an Ohio doctor who claimed that the COVID vaccine would "magnetize" peoples' bodies. A law like Todd's or Moody's, Green said, "gives wiggle room to say, well, it wasn't a lie. It's just my opinion."

Aronoff said the bills, if passed, would affect only a very small portion of healthcare providers.

"The vast, vast majority of people who are caring for patients during this pandemic are really trying to do the best they possibly can to protect people's lives and take their oath as caregivers very, very seriously," he said.

But he added that the bills would set a precedent that could hinder state regulatory boards' ability to provide oversight.

"When boards of health or medical licensing boards are no longer able to enforce regulations that are intended to keep people healthy, then we risk people being less healthy," Aronoff said.

Green agreed: "We all took the Hippocratic oath to first do no harm. And when the words that come out of your mouth can directly lead to harm, I think we have an obligation to combat that. This law, if it passes, will take away our ability to do that."

Local reports have noted there have been no disciplinary actions taken yet against doctors or nurses for misinformation.

Rep. Moody, the Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners, or their legal counsel did not respond to requests for comment as of press time.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/exclusives/95355