California Legislature Quietly Scraps “Medical Misinformation” Law AB 2098 After Judge Obliterates Its Constitutionality
"In an unexpected but expedient turn of events, the infamous “medical misinformation” bill, known as Assembly Bill 2098, that was passed last year in California and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom has been quietly struck from the books after Judge Danielle Forrest obliterated the arguments put forth by its supporters.
AB 2098 would have given Newsom and the California legislature free rein to strip the licenses of doctors who disagree with the official “scientific consensus” on the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) and other health-related issues. Thankfully, AB 2098 is dead thanks to the efforts of five doctors – Tracy Hoeg, Ram Duriseti, Aaron Kheriaty, Pete Mazolewsky, and Azadeh Khatibi – that sued over the bill’s unconstitutional violations of both the First and Fourth Amendments.
In court, the five physicians successfully argued that AB 2098 would have prevented them from providing pertinent and relevant information to their patients that may contradict what the law would have restricted or prohibited them from saying. In essence, AB 2098 was a bullying bill that threatened to demolish the entire medical system in the Golden State.
In the court room after Deputy Attorney General Kristin Liska tried to claim that AB 2098 is necessary to stop doctors from telling patients that “garlic cures cancer,” as one example, Judge Forrest blasted her tactics and further indicated that the California legislature is on the losing side of this battle.
“You give some dramatic examples, and I understand why,” Judge Forrest chided, adding that disagreement over COVID treatments is an entirely different matter and “has existed even amongst the medical community about what we do about it.”
Judge Forrest would go on to explain to Liska, and ultimately the California legislature itself, that AB 2098 unnecessarily refers to “consensus in the scientific community as though that’s something different or in addition to the standard of care” that doctors are already expected to follow.
“Not allowing ‘medical misinformation’ when half of all medical research gets overturned eventually actually means forcing medical misinformation,” one commenter noted."
AB 2098 would have given Newsom and the California legislature free rein to strip the licenses of doctors who disagree with the official “scientific consensus” on the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) and other health-related issues. Thankfully, AB 2098 is dead thanks to the efforts of five doctors – Tracy Hoeg, Ram Duriseti, Aaron Kheriaty, Pete Mazolewsky, and Azadeh Khatibi – that sued over the bill’s unconstitutional violations of both the First and Fourth Amendments.
In court, the five physicians successfully argued that AB 2098 would have prevented them from providing pertinent and relevant information to their patients that may contradict what the law would have restricted or prohibited them from saying. In essence, AB 2098 was a bullying bill that threatened to demolish the entire medical system in the Golden State.
In the court room after Deputy Attorney General Kristin Liska tried to claim that AB 2098 is necessary to stop doctors from telling patients that “garlic cures cancer,” as one example, Judge Forrest blasted her tactics and further indicated that the California legislature is on the losing side of this battle.
“You give some dramatic examples, and I understand why,” Judge Forrest chided, adding that disagreement over COVID treatments is an entirely different matter and “has existed even amongst the medical community about what we do about it.”
Judge Forrest would go on to explain to Liska, and ultimately the California legislature itself, that AB 2098 unnecessarily refers to “consensus in the scientific community as though that’s something different or in addition to the standard of care” that doctors are already expected to follow.
“Not allowing ‘medical misinformation’ when half of all medical research gets overturned eventually actually means forcing medical misinformation,” one commenter noted."
70-79, M
