I had many patients confide in me their reluctance to abide by the mandates, voicing concerns about the safety of these new modified mRNA shots. Because my clinic was doing a lot of testing, I saw the breakthrough cases and even reached out to an administrator at Houston Methodist, asking him if he was seeing what I was seeing. My concerns were dismissed.
Ignored by Methodist, I started speaking out on X (formerly Twitter), daring to post, “Vaccine mandates are wrong.” In retaliation, Houston Methodist suspended my privileges and defamed me online, demonstrating to other physicians the dire consequences of challenging their dogma. In a recent interview, Shannon Joy asked me how is it that a physician in the seemingly red state of Texas is undergoing the kind of persecution I’ve experienced; I answered, “Texas is not as ‘red’ as you think.” I believe health care is slowly changing the political landscape of our state, and COVID shot mandates started in Texas for a reason.
Texas Population Boom
I live in Harris County, the most populous county in Texas, the third most populous county in the nation, and home to the largest medical complex in the world: the Texas Medical Center (TMC). The TMC hosts 61 hospitals, including the world’s largest children’s hospital (Texas Children’s Hospital) and the world’s largest cancer hospital (MD Anderson.) I’ve wondered what sort of impact this gigantic system has on Texas state politics and decided to dig into the numbers.
Houston’s Texas Medical Center is the world’s largest medical complex by several measures: number of hospitals, number of physicians, square footage, and patient volume. The TMC employs over 106,000 people, hosts 10 million patient encounters annually, and has a gross domestic product of $25 billion. Overall, the health care industry contributes over $105 billion to Texas’ GDP.
Over the past 10 years, Texas grew its physician workforce at a faster rate than the state’s population; the total number of physicians grew by 2.5 times the population rate. Every year, nearly 2,500 first-year residents enter Texas to work in teaching hospitals, and this number is growing. From 2021 to 2022, the number of newly licensed physicians increased by 1,300 (24 percent), from 5,300 newly licensed in 2021 to 6,600 newly licensed in 2022. This is the second-highest year-over-year numerical increase for newly licensed physicians in Texas in 40 years.
The Shifting Politics of Health Care Professionals
In the last eight years, health professionals PACs’ contributions to candidates have shifted allegiances; in 2014, the majority of contributions went to Republican candidates but over the ensuing eight years, health care PACs have shifted their money to the Democrats. [Source: OpenSecrets.org]- 2014: $15,429,353 to Republicans vs. $10,597,508 to Democrats
- 2018: $13,819,441 to Republicans vs $10,949,985 to Democrats
- 2020: $10,839,418 to Republicans vs $10,784,919 to Democrats
- 2022: $9,932,381 to Republicans vs $11,163,321 to Democrats
Retaliation
On Nov. 12, 2021, one of the largest nonprofit hospitals in Houston, with over $13 billion in assets, suspended my privileges for spreading “dangerous misinformation.” Days prior, I had released a series of 25 posts on X, all stating the same thing—“Vaccine mandates are wrong”—with a screenshot of different patient testimonials. Houston Methodist retaliated by declaring on X that I was spreading “dangerous misinformation” that was “harmful to the community.” I learned of my suspension through a text message from a reporter at the Houston Chronicle and spent the following months fielding interview requests from a swarm of media.Not satisfied with publicly shaming me, Houston Methodist went on to report me to the Texas Medical Board; almost two years later, I am still trying to clear my name.
Many more physicians in Texas have had to defend themselves against the Texas Medical Board after speaking out against vaccines, fighting mask mandates, and prescribing ivermectin. The Texas Medical Board suspended the license of Dr. Eric Hensen, an otolaryngologist in Palestine, Texas, after he was turned in for not wearing a mask in his office during the pandemic (eventually, this was overturned and he is now suing the medical board.) Dr. Richard Urso and Dr. Stella Immanuel have had to defend themselves against prescribing hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin for COVID patients. All of us who have come under attack from the Texas Medical Board during the pandemic are still licensed, but the stress and expense of defending ourselves are not trivial. To date, my legal bills have amounted to almost $65,000.
Sen. Bob Hall helped me obtain statistics on COVID-related complaints to the Texas Medical Board. Since 2020, the TMB has received 1990 COVID-related complaints. Of those, 332 (16.7 percent) were ultimately deemed jurisdictional, resulting in an investigation. Here’s a breakdown of the nature of the complaints:
The Texas Medical Board has become a weaponized arm of COVID vaccine and mask zealots. Mr. Hall has worked tirelessly to protect this sort of persecution from happening in the future, writing SB 666, a bill that would prevent frivolous and fraudulent reports to the Texas Medical Board and bring transparency and accountability to complaint procedures against physicians in Texas. This bill was opposed by Associate VP of Public Affairs for the TMA, Michelle Romero, and after passing in the Senate, died in House committee.
Setting a Precedent for the Rest of the Country
I believe Houston Methodist was strategically chosen to be the first hospital in the country to mandate the COVID shots. By pulling off mandates in the largest freedom-loving Republican state in the country, the hospital proved mandates can happen anywhere. And by targeting me—a solo physician inconsequential to its revenue stream—it sent a strong message to other physicians who might have wanted to speak out.The 88th legislative session ended May 29, but we have one more chance to protect Texas citizens from the tyranny of COVID shot mandates. Currently, any private business, school, or hospital in Texas can still mandate COVID shots. HB 81, the Texas COVID-19 Vaccine Freedom Act, co-authored by Mr. Harrison and Mr. Middleton, passed in the Senate but, thanks to calendars committee chairman Dustin Burrows, never made it out of House committee. Yesterday, Mr. Abbott declared a third special session, designating reconsideration of this bill to “protect the freedom of Texans from forced COVID-19 vaccinations.” We hope legislators will have the courage to stand up to the largest medical center in the world, the largest physician organization in the country, and the multi-billion dollar Houston hospital leading the COVID vaccine mandates. The threat is real; Ken Paxton was impeached three weeks after announcing an investigation against the COVID vaccine makers. But the stakes are high. The country is watching, and if Texas falls, the rest of the states are sure to follow.
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