Medical Boards Barely Acted Amid Flood of COVID Misinformation
Medscape November 13, 2024
Only a handful of physicians in the five most populous states faced medical board discipline over spreading misinformation to the community during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study found.
In California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Pennsylvania, only six physicians were disciplined for disseminating medical misinformation in the first years of the pandemic, reported Richard S. Saver, JD, University of North Carolina School of Law and School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, in JAMA Network Open.
While the Federation of State Medical Boards had warned physicians that sharing misinformation could risk their licenses, “the study found extremely limited discipline for physicians spreading misinformation,” Saver told Medscape Medical News. “There does seem to be a very serious disconnect.”
The...