Update (October 3): California governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation last Friday that formally classifies the dissemination of COVID-19 misinformation from a physician to patients in their care as “unprofessional conduct.” The move paves the way for state medical boards to take action against physicians who spread falsehoods about the disease or its treatments, but only in a healthcare setting. The bill is “narrowly tailored to apply only to those egregious instances in which a licensee is acting with malicious intent or clearly deviating from the required standard of care while interacting directly with a patient under their care,” Newsom said in a statement.
Aphysician who alerted the Maryland state medical board about controversial scientist Robert Malone’s alleged promotion of COVID-19 misinformation has been harassed online, faced a retaliatory complaint to his own medical board, and received complaints to his institution after Malone publicly disclosed his identity.
The medical board in ...
