The United States Senate recently received a petition with endorsements for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as the Health and Human Services secretary. Interestingly, several names on this list corresponded to physicians who have had their medical licenses questioned, suspended, or revoked in the past. This development occurred due to Kennedy’s reputation, cultivated over two decades, as an activist opposing vaccinations, which has drawn extensive criticism from specialized medical communities.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and trained medical professional himself, has been key in this situation. His own website features his initiative to immunize 36,000 children from hepatitis B. Given his background and his reservations towards Kennedy’s appointment, he holds a significant role in the nomination process.
The Associated Press discovered that numerous signatories of the letter, counting close to 800, were not physicians. The letter, bearing these endorsements, made its way into the Congressional Records during one of the two confirmation hearings arranged for Kennedy. The varied background of the signing individuals included a journalist, a certified public accountant, a firefighter/paramedic, a certified health coach, and even an individual with a bachelor’s degree focused on Jungian Psychology.
The signatories also encompassed 75 or more nurses and medical assistants, while over 90 signers did not specify any professional credentials. Additionally, over 20 signers identified themselves as chiropractors, a sect known to have financially supported Kennedy’s endeavors. Surveillance by the Associated Press disclosed that a chiropractic group’s donations constituted one-sixth of the funding accumulated by Kennedy’s anti-vaccination nonprofit in 2019.
MAHA Action, overseen by Del Bigtree, performed the organization and submission of this letter. Bigtree had contributed to Kennedy’s presidential campaign. Pivoting to the association between the two, The Washington Post conveyed on a recent Wednesday that Kennedy transferred the rights to the ‘MAHA’ slogan to a LLC operated by Bigtree.
Kennedy reported an income of $100,000 made through the licensing of the slogan, despite mentioning in his financial disclosure that he had transferred the rights for no compensation. The abbreviation MAHA represents ‘Make America Healthy Again,’ a rhetorical adjustment to former President Donald Trump’s highly popularized slogan, ‘Make America Great Again.’ The swift confirmation of Kennedy by the Senate is looked forward to by a White House representative.
The letter hosting the endorsements is titled ‘Doctors for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’ Starting with the phrase, ‘We, the undersigned physicians,’ the content goes on to suggest that the letter epitomizes a collective endeavor by physicians and medical professionals who are determined to tackle chronic disease.
Close inspection unearthed that at least ten of the endorsing doctors had been met with sanctions from state medical boards or their certification bodies over purported misconduct. The corrective measures varied from license revocation or suspension, probation, reprimands, to other forms of action. A warning letter was even sent out by the Federal Trade Commission to one physician for the unauthorized advertising of products as treatments or preventives for COVID-19, which included nutrient therapy administered intravenously and certain vitamins.
Among the signees, Paul Thomas stood out, an anti-vaccine doctor who voluntarily gave up his medical license in 2022, following allegations by Oregon’s medical board of repeated and gross negligence in practicing medicine. He neither admitted nor denied these findings. Another signatory, Dr. Simone Gold, had faced disciplinary action by California’s medical board after confessing to a misdemeanor related to her behavior at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Dr. Simone Gold, despite her past, expressed her belief in an email that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an honorable and honest individual, with considerable knowledge and experience, who places the health of the American public with high regard. Endorsements for Kennedy also came from Meryl Nass, a doctor facing a license suspension in Maine for her treatment approach to patients with COVID-19; she contends the decision, expecting full validation from her appeal.
Other physicians signing the letter had a disciplinary past too. Prior to the pandemic, at least two of them were disciplined for improperly issuing vaccine waivers. One of them lost his license while the other was placed on probation. Disturbingly, another doctor lost his license for dismissing the guidelines for COVID-19.
Kennedy’s confirmation to the Senate was accompanied by multiple support letters, with one signed by ‘17,000 medical professionals’ – a claim made by the international community of medical providers, although the letter did not carry the names of its signers. Counteractive efforts were set into motion with an opposing letter to Kennedy’s appointment, issued on behalf of more than 18,000 ‘vetted and verified’ doctors.
The antagonistic group, called the Committee to Protect Health Care, informed that the letter was only circulated among authenticated physicians initially, with new setup to verify credentials as more signatures were added. To maintain their privacy and to sidestep potential harassment, the doctors’ identities were kept anonymous.