The following letter by Anchorage Attorney Mario Bird was sent to the Alaska Medical Board ahead of its Nov. 19 meeting, when a group of some 100 doctors will ask the board to discipline doctors who prescribe ivermectin and other early treatments for Covid.
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Dear Alaska Medical Board,
I am writing to comment about Dr. Leslie Gonsette’s recent accusation that early treatment “MISINFORMATION” is the cause of many unfortunate deaths regarding COVID. Dr. Gonsette and I agree on this point, although for different reasons. But even if I were to accept Dr. Gonsette’s premise that early treatment options are “misinformation” (which I do not), I want to present to the Board some reasons why Dr. Gonsette’s opinions have been met with such force by the non-medical, lay community.
I am an Alaska attorney who represents family members of hospital patients. I won’t be mentioning their names, nor the hospitals with whom they clashed, but I will attest that all of these episodes occurred in Alaska. It is a matter of public record that I appealed a court decision under Alaska’s Health Care Decisions Act (Bohn v. Providence Health Svcs.-Wash., 484 P.3d 584 (2021)), and so I will focus my comments on that topic.
During the past two months, I have had clients calling me, begging me to confront hospitals who refuse early treatment and insist upon the hospital’s COVID protocols. These treatment protocols include treatment with remdesivir and ventilators. The protocols expressly forbid the patient from receiving treatments like ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, or – for patients struggling with lung oxygen capacity – budesonide.
Some of those cases remain unresolved; at least two of them have resulted in the patient’s death. In those cases, the patients who died had “beaten COVID,” but succumbed to kidney shutdown, reduced oxygen, or other side effects. I have other potential clients whom I have been unable to help, either because of my own time constraints, or because I was too late.
My job as an attorney requires me to be skeptical of evidence, whatever the source. But I can tell you some common threads that I am seeing, two of which have nothing to do with specific treatment choices.
I suspect that many people in Alaska naturally distrust the suppression of information, and – logically enough – persons in authority who control such suppression
The first is that every single patient was, upon entering a hospital, subjected to draconian visitation restrictions, which kept family or decisionmakers from accessing the patient in-person. This, despite the fact that the family members were willing to “suit up” to protect against the purported threat of COVID entering a hospital…where there are COVID patients. And where doctors, nurses, and other medical workers enter and exit each day, in-person. The universal result I heard from my clients was that each patient was depressed, withdrawn, and wanting to leave the facility as soon as possible. A secondary result was that the decisionmaker was unable to be “boots on the ground,” and make decisions based on their firsthand observations of treatment and its effects. Has Dr. Gonsette, as a hospitalist, considered the broad effect these policies are having on patient’s families, and their ability not only to trust Dr. Gonsette and her ilk, but to make informed decisions about treatment?
This brings me to my second point: it is not only important, but required under Alaska law, for the medical decisionmaker to have access to the patient’s records. One hospital refused to tender medical records until their attorney – based in the lower 48, and unlicensed to practice in Alaska – was relayed a fax I had sent to the hospital.
Failure to tender medical records to a patient or their decisionmaker is against Alaska’s healthcare decisions law, and intentionally refusing incurs a statutory penalty of $10,000. Why would a hospital and its doctors be willing to risk incurring this type of penalty? That is a question that I can’t answer, but it is a question you should be asking yourselves and your doctors when you meet in session. Again, I can tell you that this behavior has done little to instill trust in my clients.
Dr. Gonsette is battling against human nature: the desire to know, and the freedom to seek knowledge.
Third – and this deals with treatment, but only in an oblique way – Dr. Gonsette fears that the “Alaska Early Treatment Medical Summit” is of “grave concern.” I want to point out that 1,200 people attended the October 2021 “Alaska Early Treatment Medical Summit” on five days’ notice. I have been around nonprofits in Alaska all my life, and it would be hard for me to imagine any non-profit successfully putting together such a gathering of people on such short notice. So how did it happen?
I suspect that many people in Alaska naturally distrust the suppression of information, and – logically enough – persons in authority who control such suppression. By refusing access to patients, refusing access to patient information, and refusing to consider anything but a treatment protocol that does not infallibly work, many medical providers now fit the description of “persons in authority suppressing information.”
Aside from this private suppression of information, I suspect many Alaskans are also starved for more public information precisely because the press and some of Alaska’s medical community have willfully stifled it. What is it that is so offensive about these other, easier, cheaper treatments that gets them banned from hospitals and Google searches? If they are like me, they know friends and neighbors with COVID who have quietly followed early treatment advice and stayed out of the hospital. They are naturally curious.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Human nature, made in the image and likeness of God, means that man has free will. And while man naturally looks for authority, he becomes skeptical when that authority denies him freedom to access relevant information. So, when a medical provider forces a person, against their will, to choose a certain action, and contemporaneously suppresses or attacks information regarding another choice, it is only natural to be suspicious. Plato saw this clearly over 2,000 years ago, when he commented on the differences between “slave doctors” and “freeman doctors” in ancient Greek culture:
The slave doctor prescribes what mere experience suggests–and when he has given his orders, like a tyrant, he rushes off. But the other doctor, who is a freeman, attends and practices upon freemen; he enters into discourse with the patient and with his friends and he will not prescribe for him until he has first convinced him; at last, when he has brought the patient more and more under his persuasive influences and set him on the road to health, he attempts to effect a cure.
In other words, Dr. Gonsette is battling against human nature: the desire to know, and the freedom to seek knowledge. To suggest that she is only battling against “misinformation” is, itself, a lie. Like all doctors, she must seek informed consent from her patient before prescribing a course of treatment. And suppressing information does little to accomplish this goal.
I remind you of Gamaliel’s words in the Acts of the Apostles: “Have nothing to do with these men, and let them go. For if this endeavor or this activity is of human origin, it will destroy itself. But if it comes from God, you will not be able to destroy them; you may even find yourselves fighting against God.”
If early treatment is a bugaboo, it will be found out. Let evidence accumulate that it fails, as it has accumulated, irrevocably, for my clients who have seen the remdesivir and ventilator protocols in action. But suppressing information, shunning patient’s families, and attacking fellow doctors won’t work. To paraphrase Princess Leia, the tighter your grip, the more information will slip through your fingers.
Mario Bird,
Law Office of Mario L. Bird
Anchorage, AK
24 Comments
It’s not funny but, as I tried to share this on Facebook it wouldn’t let me. I’m being sensored from posting it!
All the more reason to shut down FB.
Yep, that’s what FB does and why I got off of it almost a year ago.
Great letter. I hope they take the time to read it.
Thanks, Watchman, for posting this and Mr.Bird for writing it. I hope it circulates , people read it and are empowered by the truth .
It’s my choice not some woke hospital or doctor, to tell me what I can or can’t take.
What if eating bugs worked or drinking apple juice. Who cares it’s all about controlling you.
Look up these doctors who signed on to this letter. If your doctor is on this list. Tell your doctor to pound sand and fine a new/real doctor who cares.
Hallelujah! You are spot on 🙂
I’d like the list of 100 Doctors so I can make sure I never go to any of them.
Must read Ak posted them
History is replete with those who spread “mis-information, when that information is a dogma, hinging on religion. “Science” has become the new religion, and it’s spreading “misinformation” if you question any of its dictates. Think Copernicus, Galileo, Luther, Dr. Schemelweiss, Huss, Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. We do not know everything there is to know about COVID, it is a novel virus, nor of the vaccines, nor of potential alternative treatments. To state otherwise is itself unscientific, as we use the scientific model to make and test hypothesis, and draw conclusions, many of which will change with further investigation. What was once considered proven science and settled truth, can now be looked back upon and laughed about, as new science has transformend the old.
This is a good logical argument, but it presupposes the Alaska Medical Board, Gonsette, et al, are acting rationally. I’m not sure this will be received as intended. I wrote a letter to the Board based on facts and a few hints of answers as to why this suppression of treatment is happening. I do hope it helps them to come to the conclusion that inserting the Board into private medical decisions between patient and physician, protected by laws and HIPAA, is ill-advised and may be actionable in a court of law.
Quoting Plato, scripture and Princess Leia?! You may be able to form some sort of argument against one of those, but not the trifecta! Classical, Biblical and Starwars! My man!
Nuremberg 2.0
Fitzgerald
Being told you can’t visit a loved one has significant consequences on the health and healing of the one in the hospital as well as the one wanting to visit. Especially when it is a lengthy time they are in the facility. Especially when it includes holidays. This is not a good way to help them heal. Something must change!
I hope they listen to this letter and make some much needed improvements.
There are ways to get the Hydroxy and the Ivermectin. Don’t wait to get shut up in a hospital and forbidden treatment that works with no one getting inside to help you. I my opinion and in the opinion of many physicians these drugs work and they work well. There is something very sick happening in this country and it is much worse than what people think is the only issue that we should concerned about. #justsaying
Per Merk… the makers of Ivermectin.
No scientific basis for a potential therapeutic effect against COVID-19 from pre-clinical studies;
No meaningful evidence for clinical activity or clinical efficacy in patients with COVID-19 disease, and;
A concerning lack of safety data in the majority of studies.
Done. Crawl back in yer hole.
Ivermectin has been used by humans and animals for years for a variety of ailments and is harmless. There are decades worth of safety data. In 2016 the NIH did a study which concluded Ivermectin is efective against the SARS virus. Covid is a SARS virus. It has been shown to be an effective treatment against covid in other countries. Maybe you should pull your head out of your hole and do some actual research. And if you are so concerned about patient safety take a look at what the ventilators actually do to a persons lungs.
To the anti-vaxxers and purveyors of COVID misinformation among us that argue vaccinations don’t work but Ivermectin does:
Deaths by COVID, as reported Friday, November19, by the Alaska DHSS, include the following.
A female resident of Palmer age 80+
A female resident of Palmer in her 70s
A male resident of Palmer in his 50s
A male resident of Palmer in his 50s
A female resident of Wasilla age 80+
A male resident of Wasilla age 80+
A female resident of Wasilla in her 70s
A female resident of Wasilla in her 70s
A female resident of Wasilla in his 60s
A male resident of Wasilla in his 60s
A male resident of Houston/Big Lake in his 50s
Mario Bird, you’re terrific!
I’m not quite sure how that info is supposed to back up your view point. Either way you could learn something from this study, let alone many others. Complete the www part to see the link.
https://w.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8248252/
This letter is Right On! Death by Remdesivir/ventilator happened to a friend’s mom down in Louisiana last year, so it’s not just here, but all over. It’s suspicious why hospitals continue to refer to early treatment as “mis-information”. Like Mr. Bird said…if early treatment proved out over time not to work…or at least didn’t produce a consistent track record…it would have gone nowhere. Conversely, Remdesivir/ventilator DOES have a track record of NOT WORKING and should the patient survive, the damage to their tissue and organs by Rem/Vent causes prolonged suffering and medical issues they may never recover from. I would think THIS is the mis-information, NOT the early treatment. What doctor taking the Hippocratic Oath can live with themselves KNOWING that early treatment works??? And they DO know it works—everyone knows it works…the Cat is out of the bag, (so-to-speak). But b/c of fear of his fellow doctors, maybe losing his job, maybe for personal GAIN, he says nothing and does nothing to help as his patient dies. They DO NOT want family members to see this..so they keep them away. I hope they repent for God is a forgiving and merciful God. But He is also a just God.
Hospitals have no right to get in between a doctor and their patients decision.
The covid lunacy has gone way too far!!!
My doctor won’t give me early treatment drugs. I’ve been reading that AK pharmacies are refusing to dispense them even with a doctors Rx. Can anyone tell me how to get them???
Sound moral judgement has nothing on the Genocidal Agenda.. It will take a gun barrel… I have a friend whois a nurse in Nebraska who. was offered $8000.00 a week to mass inject the MRNA poison and she turned it down. The Covid money paid out by. these genocidal vile demons has purchased a lot of souls… Keep fighting and keep writing. GOD wins in the end. How long the misery of the tyrant is up to us.