SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in California has temporarily blocked the enforcement of a new state law allows regulators to punish doctors for spreading false or misleading information about Covid-19 vaccines and treatments to their patients.
The act, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last year, is intended to address the tide of misinformation that has emerged over the course of the pandemic.
Although the wording of the law was narrowly adapted, judge William B. Shubb of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled Wednesday that the definitions of information bias and uncertainty about the implementation of the law are “vaguely unconstitutional”.
The case is one of two legal challenges facing the law, the first of its kind in the country to try to resolve an issue that the Surgeon General of the United States, the American Medical Association and others that claim to have paid the price with unnecessary illness and life.
In December, another judge in California’s Central District denied the injunction in a similar case. The split rulings raise the possibility that the law’s fate could eventually be decided in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.
Jenin Younes, an attorney with the New Civil Liberties Union in Washington, said: “I think the judge saw this legislation: an attempt to silence doctors who disagree” with the recommendations of the judge. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other regulatory agencies. representatives of the five doctors who sued.
Judge Shubb, who was appointed by President George H. W. Bush in 1990, wrote in his ruling that he did not consider the question of whether the law violated the Amendment’s free speech protections. first or not. Instead, he found that the provisions of the law violated the 14th Amendment plaintiff’s right to due process.
The law expanded the authority of the California Medical Board, which licenses physicians, to designate the spread of false or misleading medical information to patients as “unprofessional conduct.” That could result in the suspension or revocation of a doctor’s license to practice in the state.
Judge Shubb ruled that the definition of misinformation – “false information that conflicts with contemporary scientific consensus, contrary to standards of care” – could seriously affect interaction. of doctors with their patients. He has issued a preliminary order to block the law, pending a full hearing on the complaint.
One of the plaintiffs, Aaron Kheriaty, a psychiatrist who has challenged many government policies that emerged during the pandemic, said in an interview on Thursday that the law was too rigid, especially is with a growing understanding of how best to tackle a pandemic like this.
“The misinformation cited today is tomorrow’s standard of care,” he said.
Governor Newsom’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
