Controversial doctor tweets that state is investigating her
Dr. Stella Immanuel, the Houston pastor-physician at the center of controversy over her unsupported claims that an anti-malaria drug can cure COVID-19, tweeted Thursday that the Texas Medical
Board has opened an investigation of her.
The tweet comes 20 days after the board issued a statement noting it can take action against doctors who promise a cure for COVID-19. The statement added that any complaint for false, misleading or deceptive advertising would be reviewed following its standard enforcement process.
“I’ve hired good attorneys so I don’t get shut down,” Immanuel posted on Twitter.
In the tweet, Immanuel also sought donations to fund her legal efforts. The tweet provided a link to a web page where she wrote, “many patients and those I’ve inspired will be marginalized if I were to (be) shut down.”
The board, which regulates the practice of medicine in Texas, Thursday would not confirm it is conducting an investigation of Immanuel. A spokesman noted that doctor complaints and investigations are “statutorily confidential.”
Immanuel drew international attentional in late July thanks to a video shared on social media calling it “fake science” to say the hydroxychloroquine doesn’t work and adding that “if they put
everybody on hydroxychloroquine it would stop COVID-19 in its tracks in 30 days.” She wrote that “Big Tech is censoring Experts and suppressing the CURE. I will not be silenced.”
The video, taken at a news conference Immanuel led on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, went viral after President Donald Trump’s Twitter page shared it. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube later removed the video on the grounds it contained false information.
Adm. Brett Giroir, a member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, earlier this month said that “from a public health standpoint, at first, hydroxychloroquine looked very promising” but at “this point in time, there (have) been five randomized control, placebo-controlled trials that do not show any benefit.”
Nevertheless, Immanuel told the Chronicle in late July that she has used the drug on more than 400 people, including the elderly, asthmatics and diabetics. She said, “We have not lost a patient yet.”
Immanuel could not be reached for comment Thursday.
In Thursday’s tweet, Immanuel said medical boards in Louisiana and Washington, D.C., also have opened “queries on me.” Immanuel holds a license in Louisiana as well as Texas, but the Washington, D.C., medical board
website does not list her as licensed there.
Immanuel included the Houston health department among the entities that have launched queries.
A health department spokesman noted that the department does not discipline doctors and said it has not initiated a query of Immanuel.
The Texas Medical Board’s July 31 statement said the medical community is “still learning, researching and gaining understanding of the virus,” but stressed that while drugs and therapies are being used to treat COVID-19, “there is no definitive cure at this time.” Any treatment decision must be made “with full, proper and accurate disclosure by a physician,” it said.
It did not say a complaint involving false, misleading or deceptive advertising had to involve harm to a patient.
Tweets about the board’s statement drew support of Immanuel by some and pledges by others that they planned to levy complaints.
Immanuel also attracted attention because of some eccentric beliefs. Those include that some female diseases are caused by demons having sex with the women in their sleep and that DNA from outer space has been used in modern medicines.