A doctor with decades of experience can\u2019t practice medicine after her license was temporarily suspended over accusations that she shared coronavirus misinformation, according to a\u00a0Maine\u00a0licensing board.<\/p>\n
The board has ordered her to undergo a neuropsychological evaluation, it said.<\/p>\n
Dr.\u00a0Meryl J. Nass, who got a license to practice medicine in\u00a0Maine\u00a0in 1997, had her license \u201cimmediately\u201d suspended for 30 days after a board investigation and review of complaints against her on\u00a0Jan. 12, according to a suspension\u00a0order<\/a>\u00a0from the\u00a0Maine\u00a0Board of Licensure\u00a0in Medicine.<\/p>\n Nass, who\u2019s an internist in\u00a0Ellsworth, must \u201csubmit\u201d to an evaluation by a \u201cBoard-selected psychologist\u201d on\u00a0Feb. 1, the board\u2019s evaluation\u00a0order<\/a>\u00a0issued\u00a0Jan. 11\u00a0said.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no comment about submitting to a neuropsych exam, except that the board ordered me to do so on shaky grounds,\u201d Nass told\u00a0McClatchy News, adding that she\u2019s had her license for a total of 41 years.<\/p>\n \u201cThe information received by the Board demonstrates that\u00a0Dr. Nass\u00a0is or may be unable to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to her patients by reason of mental illness, alcohol intemperance, excessive use of drugs, narcotics, or as a result of a mental or physical condition interfering with the competent practice of medicine,\u201d the evaluation order states.<\/p>\n The complaints against Nass include how the board was told she engaged in \u201cpublic dissemination of \u2018misinformation\u2019\u201d about COVID-19 and vaccinations \u201cvia a video interview and on her website,\u201d the board said about the\u00a0October 26, 2021\u00a0complaint. It lists several comments Nass made that were subject to the board\u2019s investigation.<\/p>\n Roughly 10 days later, the board got another complaint about Nass \u201cspreading COVID and COVID vaccination misinformation on Twitter,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n Nass called \u201cdisinformation and misinformation\u201d a \u201cfuzzy concept\u201d that the board hasn\u2019t defined for her, she said. \u201cThere\u2019s no law that says doctors can\u2019t express their educated opinion on any subject.\u201d<\/p>\n Other grounds for her suspension include how Nass treated COVID-19 patients with Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, according to the board.<\/p>\n The board noted that Ivermectin isn\u2019t\u00a0Food and Drug Administration\u00a0\u201cauthorized or approved\u201d as a treatment for COVID-19 in the suspension order.<\/p>\n Ivermectin is\u00a0used<\/a>\u00a0as a parasitic treatment, according to the FDA.<\/p>\n \u201cFor humans, ivermectin tablets are approved at very specific doses to treat some parasitic worms, and there are topical (on the skin) formulations for head lice and skin conditions like rosacea,\u201d the agency explains online.<\/p>\n Additionally, it noted the FDA \u201crevoked\u2019 emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine since it \u201cmay not be effective\u201d against COVID-19.<\/p>\n Hydroxychloroquine is FDA\u00a0approved<\/a>\u00a0for malaria and certain autoimmune conditions.<\/p>\n On\u00a0Dec. 19, a physician notified the board that Nass diagnosed a sick, unvaccinated patient \u201c\u2018over the phone\u2019\u201d with COVID and prescribed 5 days of Ivermectin,\u201d the board said. This patient had to be hospitalized for COVID-19.<\/p>\n With another patient, Nass is accused of emailing the board about another COVID-19 patient saying she was \u201cforced\u201d to \u201cprovide misinformation\u201d in order to obtain hydroxychloroquine.<\/p>\n The board said Nass told them during a Zoom meeting that she \u201clied and said the patient had Lyme disease and so the pharmacist dispensed the medication only because I lied.\u201d<\/p>\n On\u00a0Dec. 31, a Certified Nurse Midwife reported that Nass prescribed one of her pregnant patients who tested COVID-19 positive with hydroxychloroquine earlier in 2021, according to the board.<\/p>\n Nass said she believes vaccines are \u201cpreventive, but they don\u2019t work anymore against the omicron variant.\u201d<\/p>\n On her blog, Nass called her license suspension a \u201cwitchhunt.\u201d<\/p>\n Nass\u2019 license is suspended until\u00a0Feb. 11\u00a0\u201cpending further Board action at an adjudicatory hearing,\u201d the suspension order said.<\/p>\n She said that this hearing can be \u201cextended by either party.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of her suspension, her practice in\u00a0Ellsworth\u00a0was shut down where she said she takes care of chronically ill patients as well as COVID-19 patients.\u00a0Ellsworth\u00a0is located about 100 miles east of\u00a0Augusta.<\/p>\n The board said that her continuing to practice as a physician \u201cconstitutes an immediate jeopardy to the health and physical safety of the public who might receive her medical services, and that it is necessary to immediately suspend her ability to practice medicine in order to adequately respond to this risk.\u201d<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n \u00a9 2022 McClatchy Washington Bureau<\/em><\/p>\n Distributed by\u00a0Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A doctor with decades of experience can\u2019t practice medicine after her license was temporarily suspended over accusations that she shared coronavirus misinformation, according to a\u00a0Maine\u00a0licensing board. The board has ordered her to undergo a neuropsychological evaluation, it said. Dr.\u00a0Meryl J. Nass, who got a license to practice medicine in\u00a0Maine\u00a0in 1997, had her license \u201cimmediately\u201d suspended… Continue reading Doctor of 41 years loses license, must have psych evaluation for COVID \u2018falsehoods,\u2019 board says<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[20,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economic-empowerment","category-national-security","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67026\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}