The following is an excerpt from The Vaccine Reaction.

A new law in California will punish doctors if they give their patients information related to Covid-19 that does not conform to “contemporary scientific consensus” and can be deemed “misinformation” or “disinformation” by the California Medical Board or California Osteopathic Board. 

Assembly Bill 2098 was sponsored by State Senator Richard Pan, a pediatrician, and signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 30, 2022.

It is scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2023, and allows doctors to be charged with unprofessional conduct and put on probation of no less than five years or be suspended and lose their medical license.

The California Medical Board and California Osteopath Board will have the authority to investigate and adjudicate claims that a doctor violated the law. If a physician is found to have departed from the government approved “standard of care” policy related to Covid-19,  one of the California medical boards could revoke his or her medical license.

The government, employers, schools, colleges and universities have often changed their policies on masking and Covid vaccinations over the past three years, which demonstrates that the government’s position on Covid-19 facts and policies changes and what is considered “standard of care” may be true one day but not be true the next. 

Highlighting that the bill is another attempt to eliminate the free speech, lawyer Jonathan Turley said:

The problem is they are targeting the very people that we want to feel free to express concerns and doubts. These are the people that we need to be part of the debate, and they are chilling that debate.“

This new law effectively maintains that the current government backed “contemporary scientific consensus” is the only medical advice that a doctor should be allowed to share with their patients about the ever-evolving SARS-CoV-2 virus, whether or not that “scientific consensus” evolves over time or current government policy is considered by a doctor to place a patient at risk because, for example, it is contraindicated by the individual’s medical history.

Even staunch supporters of the Covid shots and mask-wearing have expressed concern with this new law censoring doctor’s private conversations with and treatment of their patients. Eric Widera, MD, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco warned:

… the standard of care has changed a lot in 2½ years… What was misinformation one day is the current scientific thinking another day“

On Sept. 30, Gov. Newsom signed the bill into law stating:

Assembly Bill 2098 provides that the dissemination of misinformation or disinformation related to Covid-19 by physicians and surgeons to a patient under their direct care constitutes unprofessional conduct.“

Gov. Newsom defended his actions claiming that the bill was…

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.“

Since decisions will be made by California medical licensing boards based on facts and circumstances at the time of the complaint, doctors may unwittingly put their license on the line when they treat patients using their best professional judgement.

Jay Bhattacharya, MD, epidemiologist and professor of Health Policy at Stanford University Medical School wrote an article warning:

The language of the bill itself is intentionally vague about what constitutes “misinformation,” which makes it even more damaging. Doctors, fearing loss of their livelihoods, will need to hew closely to the government line on Covid science and policy, even if that line does not track the scientific evidence… What is abundantly clear is that this bill represents a chilling interference with the practice of medicine. The bill itself is full of misinformation and a demonstration of what a disaster it would be to have the legislature dictate the practice of medicine.”

Dr. Bhattacharya points out that doctors have an obligation to treat their patients according to their individual needs and health history. This law contradicts that principle by requiring doctors to act as agents of the state, who are only allowed to repeat what some characterize as “scientific consensus” but others may characterize as government backed propaganda.

Legally, doctors owe a duty of care to their patients. This duty of care extends to warning and advising patients of the benefits, risks and side effects of taking a medication or biological and allowing the patient to make an informed, voluntary decision about whether or not to take the risk, which supports the informed consent principle.

Two California doctors, Mark McDonald, a psychiatrist and Jeff Barke, a primary care physician have already filed the first lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California asking for the law to be revoked.

The doctors are represented by Liberty Justice Center and claim that the new law must be struck down because it violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments. A motion seeking a preliminary injunction has also been filed.

Read full article here.