California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation on [September 30] that gives the state some ammunition against physicians who spread lies about COVID in the context of direct patient care, although it won’t apply to those who spread such misinformation on social media.
It is said to be the first such law in the nation.
Such misinformation — when it is “contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care,” and delivered with “malicious intent or an intent to mislead” — now can be defined as “unprofessional conduct.”
Violators would be subject to disciplinary actions from the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, which combined license some 155,000 doctors.
In a statement issued on the last day for signing or vetoing this legislative session’s bills, Newsom explained his belief that the new statute’s language “is narrowly tailored to apply only to those egregious instances in which a licensee is acting with malicious intent or clearly deviating from the required standard of care while interacting directly with a patient under their care.”
“To be clear,” he continued, “this bill does not apply to any speech outside of discussions directly related to COVID-19 treatment within a direct physician-patient relationship.”
