Specific board certified MD's can now have their certification revoked for Covid misinformation

[herding cats]

It's apparently a thing now, and I was completely unaware.

Joint Statement from the American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, and American Board of Pediatrics on Dissemination of Misinformation by Board Certified Physicians about COVID-19


PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), which supports its member state medical licensing boards, has recently issued a statement saying that providing misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine contradicts physicians' ethical and professional responsibilities, and therefore may subject a physician to disciplinary actions, including suspension or revocation of their medical license. We at the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), and the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) support FSMB's position. We also want all physicians certified by our Boards to know that such unethical or unprofessional conduct may prompt their respective Board to take action that could put their certification at risk.

Expertise matters, and board-certified physicians have demonstrated that they have stayed current in their field. Spreading misinformation or falsehoods to the public during a time of a public health emergency goes against everything our Boards and our community of board-certified physicians stand for. The evidence that we have safe, effective and widely available vaccines against COVID-19 is overwhelming. We are particularly concerned about physicians who use their authority to denigrate vaccination at a time when vaccines continue to demonstrate excellent effectiveness against severe illness, hospitalization and death.

We all look to board-certified physicians to provide outstanding care and guidance; providing misinformation about a lethal disease is unethical, unprofessional and dangerous. In times of medical emergency, the community of expert physicians committed to science and evidence collectively shares a responsibility for giving the public the most accurate and timely health information available, so they can make decisions that work best for themselves and their families.

Warren Newton, MD, MPH
President and CEO
American Board of Family Medicine

Richard J. Baron, MD
President and CEO
American Board of Internal Medicine

David G. Nichols, MD, MBA
President and CEO
American Board of Pediatrics

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/joint-statement-from-the-american-board-of-family-medicine-american-board-of-internal-medicine-and-american-board-of-pediatrics-on-dissemination-of-misinformation-by-board-certified-physicians-about-covid-19-301372024.html

[Hekate]

1. This is excellent news

[herding cats]

2. This could adversely impact physicians in a huge way.

Their certifications are how we're linked to them via our insurance hubs. If they lose those, they're basically invisible to our searches even if they're within our network.

This seems like a doable, decent move on the part of the medical entities involved here. I'm liking this move! I want to see more of this type of outreach.

[Owl]

6. Yes indeed!

[PortTack]

3. nurses, PA, CRNA, RT..all licensed medical professionals should suffer the same!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

4. This is good news

[BumRushDaShow]

5. Good - start pulling licenses to practice medicine

More should do this.

They have sat back and allowed the crazy loon stuff to proliferate as long as it has, I suppose figuring that some were "just blowing off (political) steam" and "it will eventually subside" (but it hasn't). And all that does is not only prolong the pandemic but encouraged and emboldened the idiots to resort to never-ending harassment and even violence against the very people who are trying to save their lives.

The FSMB's statement from back at the end of July being referenced is here - https://www.fsmb.org/advocacy/news-releases/fsmb-spreading-covid-19-vaccine-misinformation-may-put-medical-license-at-risk/

FSMB: Spreading COVID-19 Vaccine Misinformation May Put Medical License at Risk

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 29, 2021) – The Federation of State Medical Boards’ Board of Directors released the following statement in response to a dramatic increase in the dissemination of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation by physicians and other health care professionals on social media platforms, online and in the media:

“Physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards, 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.”

For more information about how state medical boards and the FSMB are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, visit FSMB’s webpage dedicated to providing resources and information to states and the public about COVID-19.

About the Federation of State Medical Boards:
The Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB) is a national non-profit organization representing the medical boards within the United States and its territories that license and discipline allopathic and osteopathic physicians and, in some jurisdictions, other health care professionals. The FSMB serves as the voice for state medical boards, supporting them through education, assessment, research and advocacy while providing services and initiatives that promote patient safety, quality health care and regulatory best practices. The FSMB serves the public through Docinfo.org, a free physician search tool which provides background information on the more than 1 million doctors in the United States. To learn more about the FSMB, visit www.fsmb.org. and follow the FSMB on Twitter (@theFSMB).

Some of these snake oil "physicians" are promoting quack theories and are literally (and purposely) tainting the various studies being conducted that are trying to find legitimate safe and effective treatments for the diseases caused by a COVID-19 infection. And they are featured prominently in RW media and in social media, with little pushback.

Crap like Ivermectin has become the Laetrile of the 2010s.

[Mary in S. Carolina]

7. This is awesome!!

Yes, now let's get the various nursing boards, etc on the same page and maybe we can overcome this awful virus.

[bucolic_frolic]

8. Very sad that they must issue such a statement

to reign in any wayward elements

[Hortensis]

9. I hope activists put this to work as needed to put a stop to

this shockingly depraved behavior. No doubt many of the chronic offenders are known in their communities.

[Sgent]

10. Just wanted to chime in

and mention that the ABIM and ABP cover subspecialties as well so Gastroenterology, Cardiology, Allergy, Nephrology, Pulmonary, Infectious Disease, Oncology, and a few others. Excluded are all surgical specialties, psychiatry & neurology, and dermatology.

[JohnSJ]

11. Would this effect Rand Paul? Oh wait, he isn't board certified, he created his own certification

because he couldn’t pass the standard one


https://www.thedailybeast.com/rand-paul-ophthalmology-certification-scandal-why-it-matters

“

Certification tests long have been administered by venerable, apolitical groups such as the American Board of Ophthalmology (or Internal Medicine or whatever). The certificate is a national credential that, although not absolutely necessary to practice medicine, is more or less required for any doctor seeking an affiliation with a hospital.

It gets even more complicated, but hang in there; Rand is hoping the distinctions are just too subtle for anyone to really care about. In the 1980s, American medicine decided that it should police itself. A little. So the Grand Old Men of the various fields decided that already certified specialists should recertify once a decade. Rand initially did the right thing and became certified; but when his 10 years were up, he decided he’d had enough and chose not to recertify. Rather, he organized his own certifying program for ophthalmology based right there in his hometown of Bowling Green. He then appointed himself president of the group, which he named the National Board of Ophthalmologists, and better yet, declared his wife (not a doctor) VP and his father-in-law secretary. Talk about convenient! It remains unclear what the NBO criteria for certification are; the organization appears to have no website or easily located documents (though it is registered with the state of Kentucky as a nonprofit and claims to have certified a few hundred eye doctors).

All of this would be OK with me; I just took the frigging recertification test in my field and I hated every minute of it. It is humiliating and infuriating and insulting and a waste of time and money. Indeed, I applaud Rand’s sticking his tongue out at the gasbags who insist on teenage procedures (multiple-choice tests proctored now by cybersecurity) to assure that a doctor is certified in his field.

But Rand lost me when he articulated the reason why he resisted. Being a conscientious objector or pissed off adult simply wasn’t good enough. No, he decided to cast it as a high-end moral stance against groups that discriminate—groups like the American Board of Ophthalmology. And what exactly was their discriminatory practice? Opposing civil rights maybe? Nope—much, much worse. The old geezers who made up the test requirements built a nice little loophole for themselves: They excluded themselves from having to recertify—instead they were “grandfathered” in. And in so doing they discriminated against poor Rand and me and thousands of other of victimized doctors. Thank goodness someone had the strength to make a stand against the nefarious two-tiered system. Ah the pure horseshit—true Kentucky thoroughbred stuff.“

[brer cat]

12. K&R

[malaise]

13. Good

Rec

[malaise]

14. Good

Rec