Baylor health sues COVID-19 vaccine skeptic and demands Dallas doctor stop using its name

Dr. Peter McCullough had ample opportunity to discuss his controversial views on COVID-19 vaccines on television and on the internet.

Contrary to medical consensus, the Dallas doctor has stated that people under the age of 50 without any health risks do not need the COVID-19 vaccine, according to court records. And he said on a Fox News show hosted by Laura Ingraham this month that the vaccines do not protect against the Delta variant and that “there is no clinical reason to get vaccinated.”

Former employer Baylor Scott & White Health says it has no problem with McCullough expressing his views.

But the health giant says it wants it to stop claiming to be connected to the system.

Baylor sued McCullough in Dallas County District Court Wednesday, claiming he continued to use his previous Baylor titles, including deputy chief of internal medicine at Baylor University Medical Center, in violation of a February separation agreement.

Clinton Mikel, a McCullough attorney, said in a statement Thursday that the settlement agreement restricts his client from what he can say. Mikel described the lawsuit as frivolous and a “politically motivated attempt to get Dr. To silence McCullough ”.

Baylor Scott & White says in its lawsuit that this video is one of many in which Dr. Peter McCullough is mistakenly identified as still connected to the healthcare system.(Baylor Scott & White)

Since signing the settlement agreement, McCullough has never stated that he is employed by or associated with Baylor, according to his attorney. But media outlets continue to quote his client’s previous Baylor titles, despite McCullough’s standard practice of informing producers that he is no longer working there, Mikel said.

“Every single instance that Baylor refers to is something that was said / printed by a third party without the encouragement of Dr. McCullough,” he said in the statement. “DR. McCullough controls and cannot control third parties.”

McCullough, 58, and Baylor negotiated the confidential agreement in which the doctor agreed to no longer state that he is employed or affiliated with Baylor or one of its affiliates according to the lawsuit.

Baylor says in his lawsuit that the doctor violated this “key condition” of the February 24 agreement “dozens, if not hundreds, of times” in media interviews, online biographies and elsewhere.

“As a result, widespread online postings and comments on Twitter and elsewhere incorrectly link McCullough to the plaintiffs to this day,” the infringement lawsuit said.

McCullough’s “improper use of titles and alleged affiliations,” the lawsuit says, has confused the media, medical community and the public.

“Plaintiffs are not trying to silence McCullough,” the lawsuit said. “But his opinion is his and his alone.”

Baylor, the largest nonprofit hospital system in Texas, is demanding more than $ 1 million and an injunction preventing McCullough from “using further abuse of titles and alleged links,” court records show.

Baylor filed the lawsuit the same day it was announced that all of its employees would need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as increases in the Delta variant increase health risks nationwide. Baylor has 40,386 full-time employees in north and central Texas, and workers must be fully vaccinated by October 1. The company said about 71% of employees were vaccinated.

The lawsuit doesn’t say why McCullough, a cardiovascular disease specialist, left Baylor.

Baylor Scott & White Health said in a written statement that McCullough’s views did not reflect those of the health care provider.

“The lawsuit was brought to enforce this separation and avoid public confusion,” the statement said. “We take our responsibility very seriously to be a trusted source of medical information in the communities we serve.”

Baylor says that since McCullough left the system, he has given print and video interviews on “TV shows, podcasts, published video presentations and other recordings” and published them in magazines. In those records and publications, McCullough is mentioned as being associated with Baylor, the lawsuit states.

As a result, Baylor has received inquiries from journalists and medical professionals about “McCullough’s employment and affiliation status,” including “some of the most prestigious health care facilities in the country,” according to the lawsuit.

The company says in the lawsuit that the purpose of the separation agreement was to avoid such confusion and questions as to whether Baylor supported McCullough’s views. Baylor says the confusion is likely to cause “irreparable reputational and business damage.”

“This is especially true in the midst of a global pandemic,” said the lawsuit.

Registered Nurse Christine Atayde will administer a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on Saturday, July 17, 2021, on the final day of vaccinations on the grounds of Drive-Through Fair Park in Dallas. (Elias Valverde II / employee photographer)

Most of McCullough’s media interviews in question relate to his views on the COVID-19 vaccines, the lawsuit said.

Baylor says in the lawsuit that its medical experts have carefully studied the available data and recommend that anyone eligible for the vaccines receive them in accordance with the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The lawsuit includes screenshots of tweets attributing to McCullough the false claim that COVID-19 vaccines killed up to 50,000 Americans. The doctor has also been criticized for some of his other views on COVID-19 treatments.

Several doctors from the Texas Chapter of Nonprofit Doctors for America said in a letter published in The Dallas Morning News in December that McCullough had made “baseless, misleading comments” denouncing the use of hydroxychloroquine as an “early stage outpatient treatment for patients with COVID-19” advocate. “Studies have shown that use of the drug has been linked to” higher rates of harm, “the doctors wrote.

Baylor says in his application for a restraining order that it is unclear whether patients are avoiding the hospital because of “wrong affiliations”. But the “online storm surge of stories and comments” and numerous inquiries about McCullough’s employment show that Baylor is facing the likelihood of business and “reputational damage,” the lawsuit said.

“This is not an issue of free speech or the suppression of disagreements,” the lawsuit said. “McCullough can offer his opinion to anyone he wants, but he cannot do so while claiming he is currently affiliated with the plaintiffs. He negotiated this ability in the separation agreement. “

Mikel said Baylor made no attempts to reach out to his client to try to resolve the matter before filing the lawsuit. And he said his client intended to “vigorously” defend himself against the lawsuit.

Also listed as a plaintiff is the HealthTexas Provider Network, a member of the Baylor healthcare system.

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