CA Governor and COVID ‘Experts’ Defeated Over Bill to Punish Doctors for ‘Covid Misinformation’
It cannot be overstated how illegal/unconstitutional, prejudicial and totalitarian this law was
By Katy Grimes, October 17, 2023 7:56 am
In January 2023, California’s new law to punish doctors for spreading “Covid misinformation,” went into effect. Assembly Bill 2098 authored by Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) and co-authored by then-Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento), and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom, circumvented due process against doctors over “Covid misinformation conduct,” and quashed their right to free speech.
California surgeon Dr. Peter Mazolewski said the purpose of Assembly Bill 2098 is to circumvent due process against doctors over “Covid misinformation conduct.”
AB 2098 punished physicians and surgeons for “unprofessional conduct” for advocating for the potential benefits of early treatment with off-label drugs, or those who dare to ask questions about COVID vaccine safety. The Globe reported in September ahead of the governor signing AB 2098, “As attorney Laura Powell of Californians for Good Governance noted, ‘Since AB 2098 explicitly restricts speech based on its content, it is presumptively invalid. The bill does not address the problem identified. The bill’s authors and supporters point to the problem of doctors who widely amplify falsehoods about Covid-19, but silencing them would violate the Constitution. To remedy the constitutional problems, it would have to be pared down to the point that it would simply duplicate existing law. Proponents are unable to cite a single example of a harm that could be prevented.’”
“AB 2098 will stifle scientific progress, harm public health, and violate doctors’ First Amendment rights,” Ethan Blevins, of the Pacific Legal Foundation wrote for the Globe. “California’s Medical Board does not enjoy a monopoly on truth. Punishing ideas that defy consensus is an excuse to punish heretics and stifle dissent.”
Even before AB 2098 went into effect, it was already used as a weapon to intimidate and punish doctors who dissent from mainstream views, lawyers with the New Civil Liberties Alliance reports. “Physicians have already experienced threats from other doctors and individuals on social media to use AB 2098 to have their licenses taken away, an obvious attempt to suppress the doctors’ speech,” the Globe reported.
It cannot be overstated how illegal/unconstitutional, prejudicial and harmful this law was, and the governor was warned. “AB 2098” should be used in every sentence with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s name in every media story about the authoritarian governor who locked down an entire state of 40 million people for nearly three years over a flu.
It also should be used legally against the “public health” tyrants who gave the governor cover throughout the lockdowns by deceitfully declaring the public was at serious risk of death unless they stayed home, masked and vaxxed.
Five Physicians filed a lawsuit in November 2022 against the State of California over the new law, which attorneys said violates the 1st and 14th Amendments (free speech and due process). They were rewarded when California’s medical misinformation law suffered its first legal defeat later in January 2023. The five physicians, Drs. Aaron Kheriaty, Tracy Hoeg, Ram Duriseti, Pete Mazolewski, and Azadeh Khatibi, wanted to know who approves the “consensus?” When the Globe spoke with Dr. Pete Mazolewski, he asked, “Who decides? The medical board? Public health officials?”
Neither the members of the Medical Board nor all of California’s public health officials are licensed medical doctors – California’s Medical Board is currently made up of 12 individuals: 6 Medical Doctors, 3 attorneys, a Public Relations consultant, an “Ethics Reformer,” and a Life Coach, the Globe reported when the lawsuit was filed.
Judge William Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California granted a preliminary injunction blocking the state from enforcing AB 2098, ruling that the statute’s “unclear phrasing and structure” could have a “chilling effect.”
Dr. Mark McDonald wrote at the Globe:
A judge in California agreed with a request for preliminary injunction to protect five California physicians from the Medical Board of California. AB 2098 empowers the Medical Board of California (MBC) to suspend the medical licenses of any physician whose speech does not conform to the political views of those in power. Specifically, if a doctor tells a patient that wearing a mask does not prevent infection from a respiratory virus, or that the experimental mRNA injections can be harmful (in addition to being ineffective), he may be prevented from practicing medicine in the state of California. This law is both unconstitutional and destructive—it effectively ends the possibility of pursuing an honest doctor-patient relationship and will force the best doctors to flee to other states, or simply retire from the profession. The preliminary injunction blocks the MBC from using AB 2098 to sanction the five doctors in the case. It does not, however, extend this protection to any other physicians.
This legal smack down then precipitated legislation to undo the horrid law, which was recently signed by Gov. Newsom – quietly, with no fanfare. Reclaim the Internet reported:
In the face of this, many experts and politicians appear eager to cover their missteps and push their narratives, even if it means stomping all over the First Amendment rights of American citizens. That’s the concerning part and the bad news. On the brighter side, these fake COVID “experts” in California just faced a massive blow, thanks to a recent court ruling that spells victory for freedom in the United States.
The revision legislation, SB 815 authored by Sen. Richard Roth, would be laughable if AB 2098 wasn’t so authoritarian – Roth described the bill as ” is all about protecting patients”:
Roth’s landmark bill revises the State’s Medical Practices Act’s cumbersome processes, empowering patients, adding transparency and sunlight to the Medical Board of California’s (Board) physician oversight and disciplinary process and guaranteeing fiscal solvency.
“This legislation is all about protecting patients, lifting up consumers and making sure that the State´s watchdog actually has teeth,” said Roth. “SB 815 improves physician oversight, which is not only important for patients, it is critical for the overwhelming majority of dedicated physicians who are upstanding and play by the rules.”
The governor’s bill signing press release described SB 815 as “Healing arts.”
The governor’s lawyers should have had to argue their case in court so the entire state could hear their defense of AB 2098, and witness their push for doctors to be punished for being “ahead of the curve and expressing or endorsing ideas the rest of the medical community had not yet caught up with because they weren’t paying as close attention to the available research,” Epoch Times reported Dr. Aaron Kheriaty said. Dr. Kheriaty “has been personally harmed by the larger anti truth in medicine movement. He chaired the bio-medical ethics committee at the UCI medical school until being forced to resign two years ago after raising questions about the ethics of requiring both adults and children be injected with the experimental mRNA product,” Dr. McDonald reported.
We hope the state and physicians can heal after this terrifying foray into totalitarianism.
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Katy Grimes has said it all regarding this horrendous and unbelievable totalitarian attempt —- which we have all by now had a taste of, and maybe that’s a good thing to prevent more —- to shut down and toss out of practice decent physicians who rightly REFUSED to go along with government diktats and thus were properly serving and caring for their patients. Only want to repeat, highlight and emphasize what for me is the key quote from her article:
“It cannot be overstated how illegal/unconstitutional, prejudicial and harmful this law was, and the governor was warned. ‘AB 2098’ should be used in every sentence with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s name in every media story about the authoritarian governor who locked down an entire state of 40 million people for nearly three years over a flu.
“It also should be used legally against the “public health” tyrants who gave the governor cover throughout the lockdowns by deceitfully declaring the public was at serious risk of death unless they stayed home, masked and vaxxed.”
It’s the passage and adoption of bills like AB2098 and others like it that actually give me hope for the future. The hope is that voters will wake up and see how inept, corrupt and totalitarian that California state government has become. For far too long the majority of the electorate have been voting based upon the fear that has been stoked by social media that conservative/commonsense values are out of date and will enslave folks. Now folks can see that they were being fed a big lie and start choosing a brighter future. As 2023 starts to wind down to a conclusion (this year flew by) I believe that we are going to be in for a wild conclusion that will help restore order to the great state of California and the nation as a whole.
We are in a period of demoralization
This was excerpt (in mid-1980s) was taken from a former KGB stating how America can be turned to communism with all the stages — this quote sticks with me when I question why don’t the left see how Democrats are the fascists and are aggressively taking control over the people.
“As I mentioned before, exposure to true information does not matter anymore. A person who was demoralized is unable to assess true information. The facts tell nothing to him, even if I shower him with information, with authentic proof, with documents and pictures. …he will refuse to believe it…. That’s the tragedy of the situation of demoralization.”
–Yuri Bezmenov [1980s]
I hope you’re right, Hal….
But I’m not holding my breath just yet….
“Neither the members of the Medical Board nor all of California’s public health officials are licensed medical doctors – California’s Medical Board is currently made up of 12 individuals: 6 Medical Doctors, 3 attorneys, a Public Relations consultant, an “Ethics Reformer,” and a Life Coach, the Globe reported when the lawsuit was filed.”
WHAT??? No “community organizer” on the Board???
This is a TRAVESTY for Californians!!!
{sarc}
But in all seriousness – is this part a contradiction ? “Neither the members of the Medical Board nor all of California’s public health officials are licensed medical doctors – California’s Medical Board is currently made up of 12 individuals: 6 Medical Doctors…”
Are those 6 Medical Doctors not licensed???
Muzzle politicians NOT Doctors! Time to put them back on their leash where they belong! We’ve seen what happens when they run free.
Don’t forget the hospital administrators who kowtowed to the politicians. But isn’t muzzling also anti-free speech? Who can do the muzzling if not the government and that is what we are trying to end.
It is not really clear whether or not Californians really recognize the problems, but if CA does not find a way to purge the schools of teacher’s unions and communist curricula, for every brushfire that is extinguished 5 new ones will be lit. When Californians stop voting communist, they will have stopped voting for their own extinction, because communism only destroys, it does not create wealth, prosperity or freedom, except for the members of the Party who are the best parrots. I think Californians are too far gone to recover as long as blue has any power at all. The only hope is to get New California established with a solid red majority, but that will prove difficult if not impossible. It is hard to get people to admit that they have been wrong all their lives.
Anyone who thinks it is bad now, just wait. The left is going to try to force digital ID cards on everyone. Those cards will be used to force everyone to comply with the coming Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), also in process. Then everyone will have an ESG score. Everything will be surveilled by drones and cameras. Some estimates claim that Communist China now has over 600 million surveillance cameras. The US has an estimated 100 million installed now. What good are surveillance cameras when criminals are not punished? Are you ready to be depopulated?
SB 815 does what? I tried reading the bill and I can’t tell what it changes or what it leaves the same, let alone how it helps any patients.