Consumer Health Digest, #21-37

September 19, 2021

Consumer Health Digest is a free weekly e-mail newsletter edited by William M. London, Ed.D., M.P.H., with help from Stephen Barrett, M.D., It summarizes scientific reports; legislative developments; enforcement actions; other news items; Web site evaluations; recommended and nonrecommended books; research tips; and other information relevant to consumer protection and consumer decision-making. The Digest’s primary focus is on health, but occasionally it includes non-health scams and practical tips. Items posted to this archive may be updated when relevant information becomes available. To subscribe, click here.

Anti-mask doctor’s medical license revoked. The Oregon Medical Board issued a Default Final Order on September 2, 2021, revoking the license of Steven Arthur LaTulippe, M.D., and assessing a civil penalty of $10,000. The order stated that he had engaged in dishonorable or unprofessional conduct, repeated negligence and gross negligence. According to the Board, LaTulippe: (a) refused to wear a mask in his South View Medical Arts family practice in Dallas, Oregon when treating patients during the pandemic, (b) misinformed patients that mask-wearing is more dangerous than COVID-19, (c) advised patients not to wear a mask, (d) did not have proper procedures to screen patients for COVID-19, (e) refused to abide by the state’s COVID-19 protocols, and (f) over-prescribed opioids. The board issued an emergency suspension last December and a 72-page Final Order in May that provides additional details. LaTulippe sued in federal court to overturn the emergency suspension, but the court did not rule on that motion, which now appears to be moot.

More physician organizations warn against spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, and American Board of Pediatrics have issued a joint statement warning that: (a) “providing misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine contradicts physicians’ ethical and professional responsibilities,” and (b) “such unethical or unprofessional conduct [by physicians certified by their boards] may prompt their respective Board to take action that could put their certification at risk.” [Joint statement from the American Board of Family Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, and American Board of Pediatrics on dissemination of misinformation by Board Certified physicians about COVID-19. American Board of Family Medicine press release, Sept 9, 2021] The American Board of Emergency Medicine issued a similar statement in August. The American College of Physicians has expressed concern about “spreading misinformation that can be harmful to patients” but has not threatened to expel members who do this. [Abraham GM. Internists concerned about COVID-19 misinformation. American College of Physicians news release, Sept 9, 2021]

Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s COVID-19 misinformation gospel spotlighted. A Religion News Service report describes how Sherri Tenpenny, an osteopathic doctor from Cleveland, Ohio, appeals to Christian nationalism in promoting COVID-19 misinformation:

  • In testimony in June before Ohio legislators, she claimed COVID-19 vaccines could “magnetize” people’s bodies or allow them to “interface” with cellphone towers. She also said: “For those of you who say you are Christians, what will your life review look like at the end of your life? Will the Lord say to you: ‘You coerced people into being injected with this gene-modification technology that irreversibly disrupts your chromosomes?’”
  • In one session of her “Happy Hour with Dr. T,” a semiweekly Bible study on Instagram Live, she “implores God to release the U.S. from the ‘tyranny of the mask,’” argues America is founded “on your word,” and expresses hope it will “return” to being “one country under God.” In another session, she refers to vaccines as a “bioweapon to damage your children” created by “Satanists” who allow Black Lives Matter and antifa activists to operate as a “front” to “drive socialism through the heart of America, which turns into communism.”
  • In August at Bards Fest, a Christian nationalist gathering in St. Louis she: (a) claimed the shots have no medical benefit, make people sick and amount to a “sin” because getting one involves “bowing to fear”; (b) said: “How many stories are in the Bible about (Jesus) healing leprosy? Leprosy back in the day, when Jesus was alive, was an incurable deadly disease. Don’t you think he might be able to take care of you in COVID, too?”; and (c) framed vaccine proponents as murderous descendants of the biblical Nimrod.

[Jenkins J. The gospel of Sherri Tenpenny: COVID-19 misinformation meets Christian nationalism. Religion News Service, Sept 14, 2021] Tenpenny was included among the “Disinformation Dozen” identified by the Center for Countering Digital Hate as responsible for 65% of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms.


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