Oregon doctor’s license revoked due to refusal to wear mask during pandemic

The medical license of an Oregon doctor who refused to wear a face mask despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was revoked weeks after video showing he dismissed Covid-19 as a “common cold”.

Steven LaTulippe made the comments Nov. 7 during a “Stop the Steal” rally in support of President Donald Trump outside the State Capitol in Salem.

“I want to expose what I call corona mania,” LaTulippe said in a video posted to YouTube by the Multnomah County Republican political group.

Less than a month later, on Dec. 3, the Oregon Medical Council issued an emergency stay after finding that LaTulippe “had engaged in unprofessional or dishonorable conduct,” according to the online archives.

According to the emergency suspension, LaTulippe reportedly told a patient in July who asked for advice on when to get tested for the coronavirus that asymptomatic people should not be tested and that wearing a mask does not prevent not the transmission. LaTulippe ordered the patient not to self-isolate because being surrounded by other people would give him immunity against Covid-19, according to state council documents.

The medical board also found that LaTulippe and his staff refused to wear masks in the clinic and urged patients to remove their own masks. Medical commission investigators who visited LaTulippe said there was no screening procedure at the entrance to the premises and no hand sanitizer was available in the waiting area.

Following these findings, the medical council ruled that LaTulippe “constitutes an immediate danger to the public and presents a serious danger to public health and safety”.

The suspension prevents LaTulippe, who obtained a license in 2000, from practicing medicine anywhere in Oregon.

In a previous interview with NBC, LaTulippe said he believes there is “bad science” supporting advice on wearing face masks when in contact with people outside of his home.

“I have absolutely no infectivity problem, and I have totally effective treatments, so I ask, ‘What’s the problem?’ Why would I be demonized if I know what I’m doing? ” he said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing a mask to reduce transmission of the virus. A November 20 report cited seven studies from various settings that “confirmed the benefits of universal masking in community-level analyzes.”

While the doctor refused to wear a facial cover, LaTulippe previously said he asked patients who thought they had Covid-19 or were showing symptoms of the virus to wear one.

He said he established a protocol to see these patients at the end of the day after his other patients left and treated them in a back room that is disinfected before and after their visit.

“I am very interested in a solid medical practice and I am interested in good science,” he said. “And when science and medicine get perverted by corrupt politics, then I’m ready to fight, and that’s what prompted me to attend this rally and say what I said.