HOUSTON (AP) — A Houston hospital has temporarily suspended a doctor for spreading false information about COVID-19 to her patients and on social media.
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, an ear, nose and throat specialist who runs a private practice in River Oaks, had been granted provisional privileges at Houston Methodist Hospital within the last year.
The hospital revoked Bowden’s hospital privileges on Friday citing “unprofessional behavior,” including vulgar language on social media, as the main reason for suspension, the Houston Chronicle reported.
On her Twitter account, Bowden repeatedly decried vaccine mandates and promoted the unproven benefits of ivermectin, the anti-parasitic drug that federal health officials advise against using to treat the virus.
In emails obtained by the Chronicle, Bowden was urging against vaccinations for children and telling her patients that data she has collected “suggests that the vaccine is not working.”
“Dr. Mary Bowden, who recently joined the medical staff at Houston Methodist Hospital, is using her social media accounts to express her personal and political opinions about the COVID-19 vaccine and treatments,” Houston Methodist said in a statement.
“These opinions, which are harmful to the community, do not reflect reliable medical evidence or the values of Houston Methodist, where we have treated more than 25,000 COVID-19 inpatients, and where all our employees and physicians are vaccinated to protect our patients.”
Bowden told the Chronicle all her comments are “backed by clinical experience.”
Medical board spokesman Jarrett Schneider said in regards to the possibility of future discipline for Bowden that “the board cannot issue prospective opinions on whether an individual has violated any board rules or laws.”
