With the many healthcare professionals across the nation who have been punished for their views on COVID-19 vaccines and treatments in mind, a Houston physician has filed a $25 million lawsuit against the hospital that suspended her privileges.
Dr. Mary Bowden, in her 19-page lawsuit, charges Houston Methodist Hospital published defamatory statements to news media and social media platforms.
“The way they came after me was unprofessional, unprecedented against the spirit of bylaws of their bylaws,” said Bowden, who resigned from the hospital last November after her privileges were suspended.
The ENT doctor told Houston’s KPRC-TV she has done her best in treating more than 4,000 COVID-19 patients, and the hospital “came out against me in a very public and vicious way.”
“They implied that I was dangerous, which as a physician leaves a permanent scar on your record, on your reputation,” she said.
The hospital reacted after Bowden began posting on Twitter the evidence in support of early treatments such as ivermectin and the evidence against the claim that the vaccines are safe and effective.
The lawsuit cites a series of tweets from Houston Methodist’s account stating that Bowden’s “opinions” about the COVID-19 vaccine and treatments, “which are harmful to the community, do not reflect reliable medical evidence.”
“For them to imply that what I’m doing is dangerous is the epitome of misinformation,” Bowden said.
In July, the Federation of State Medical Boards issued a warning that 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.”
Thank you @TwitterSupport for not censoring me despite the outlash of angry Karens reporting me for misinformation. https://t.co/hrRUEWFsN7
— Mary Talley Bowden MD (@MdBreathe) January 12, 2022
Among the many physicians who have been punished for opposing the COVID vaccines and treating patients off-label with ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine and other drugs is Dr. Paul Marik of Eastern Virginia Medical School. Mark, in January, sued a Norfolk hospital for banning him from prescribing ivermectin to his COVID-19 patients.
His lawsuit argued Virginia’s Advanced Directive statute gives hospitalized patients the right to choose what treatment they receive as long as a doctor determines it to be appropriate.
“This is not about ivermectin. This is about the bedside doctor being able to do what doctors have been doing for decades, and what doctors do across the world,” he said in an interview with WAVY-TV in Norfolk. “Doctors decide what is the best treatment for their patients, and they alone are responsible for the patient and the treatment of the patient.”
88 studies versus 1 pic.twitter.com/QMTGazKtDM
— Mary Talley Bowden MD (@MdBreathe) July 24, 2022
He said ivermectin is among other “safe off-label drugs that they are prohibiting me from using.”
Marik was a co-author of a peer-reviewed study published by the American Journal of Therapeutics that found that ivermectin reduces coronavirus infections, hospitalizations and deaths by about 75%.
Ivermectin, in more than 30 trials around the world, causes “repeated, consistent, large magnitude improvements in clinical outcomes’ at all stages of the disease,” according to the study. The evidence is so strong, the researchers said, the anti-parasitic drug should become a standard therapy everywhere, hastening global recovery.
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