March 9, 2022
RE: FLCCC Statement on California Assembly Bill 2098
Position: Oppose
Dear California Legislators,
On behalf of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, a group of highly published, world-renowned critical care physicians and scholars, I am writing to express our deep concern and opposition to California Assembly Bill 2098 (AB2098). AB 2098 is an unwarranted, intrusive, and potentially dangerous bill that will allow bureaucrats in Sacramento to intrude on the doctor-patient relationship and do irreparable harm to the practice of medicine.
As physicians and scientists, we are trained to think critically, to question science, and use what we learn to treat our patients and advance the practice of medicine. AB 2098 is the reversal of these concepts that have formed the foundation of medicine for centuries. If AB 2098 becomes law, doctors will be threatened with disciplinary action for what is vaguely referred to in the bill as “disinformation.”
The Medical Board of California – a partisan group of Democrat-appointed political activists – and the Osteopathic Medical Board of California would be charged with defining what constitutes “disinformation” and identifying violations. These bodies would leverage their already enormous power to push Democrat policy and prosecute doctors who don’t toe the party line. Doctors would practice medicine out of fear and lose their ability to think critically about the best solutions for patients. This would have profoundly negative effects on medical progress that stretch far into the future.
Scientific exploration and innovation go hand-in-hand. Doctors play a crucial role in this process when they practice medicine freely and create knowledge about what works best and why. This is a proven formula that has led to higher survival rates for cancers and other illnesses that were a death sentence just a few years ago. Restricting doctors to practice only what partisan political appointees deem worthy will stifle scientific discovery and innovation.
We encourage the members of the California Legislature to oppose AB2098 and preserve the sacred relationship patients have with their doctors.
