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Author: Richard Jaffe

Kelly Sutton’s Medical License is Revoked by the Medical Board of California

Kelly Sutton’s Medical License is Revoked by the Medical Board of California

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We got word a few days ago that the Medical Board adopted the Administrative Law Judge’s proposed decision to revoke her medical license for writing 8 medical exemptions that were not compliant with the CDC’s ACIP guidelines. It was a tough but not unexpected decision given the hostility the Board has against doctors who were charged with writing more than a couple of exemptions. Here is the decision. You won’t like it. CCF12152021 I want to share two important behind-the-scenes…

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To California Physicians Thinking about Settling an Accusation with the Medical Board: Think fast because it’s going to cost you plenty if you wait until next year, meaning in 22 days

To California Physicians Thinking about Settling an Accusation with the Medical Board: Think fast because it’s going to cost you plenty if you wait until next year, meaning in 22 days

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For some time now, the Medical Board has been the only licensing board which did not impose cost recovery on licensees who violate the standard of care or any other violation of a licensing statute. This was per a statutory carve-out from the general cost recovery requirement for disciplinary cases contained in Bus & Prof. Code 125.3 (k). However, this carve-out has been removed from the law effective the beginning of the new year (i.e. Janiuary 1, 2022). What that…

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The Whirlwind of COVID Mandates and Mandate Litigation Continues; Some Things are Becomming Clearer, but the New Variant Might Further Muddy the Waters, and SOME BREAKING NEWS!

The Whirlwind of COVID Mandates and Mandate Litigation Continues; Some Things are Becomming Clearer, but the New Variant Might Further Muddy the Waters, and SOME BREAKING NEWS!

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Unless you’re following this full time and have a spreadsheet, there is so many new mandate orders and resulting litigation, it is hard to keep track of everything that is happening. Up until the new variant, I think we could see some patterns in the decisions. Someone with more technical skills than me might be able to make a matrix of it all, but all I can do is categorize it. I put all these lawsuits into three basic categories:…

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All eyes are now on the Sixth Circuit as it considers whether to lift the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the Biden OSHA COVID mandate

All eyes are now on the Sixth Circuit as it considers whether to lift the Fifth Circuit’s stay of the Biden OSHA COVID mandate

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To recap, the Fifth Circuit recently stayed the implementation of the Biden Administration’s OSHA-created COVID vaccine mandate. I think the Fifth Circuit’s decision is clear, cogent, and powerful. Here it is and it is well worth reading. 5th Stay And let’s face it, there aren’t many opportunities to read appellate court decisions which temporarily stop a vaccine mandate and which agree with what you believe in. One of the most heartening things about the opinion for those opposed to the…

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If You are a Kaiser employee or have a child in the San Diego School District and were hoping for injunctive relief from the COVID Mandate, sorry, it’s not happening

If You are a Kaiser employee or have a child in the San Diego School District and were hoping for injunctive relief from the COVID Mandate, sorry, it’s not happening

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Yesterday, federal courts in the Northern and Southern districts of California denied requests for injunctive relief for Kaiser employees and San Diego school district kids whose parents didn’t want them to take the COVID vaccine. No surprises here. The SD school district case upheld the mandate that prohibits in-person learning or in-person extracurricular activities without complying with the vaccine mandate. Here is the opinion. Thomas More SD TRO Denied. The plaintiffs tried to assert a free exercise clause argument based…

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The OSHA COVID Mandate Overreach (updated)

The OSHA COVID Mandate Overreach (updated)

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I have to say, I didn’t see the OSHA COVID mandate coming. I get Jacobson (and I happen to think that the core legal principle will be upheld), but part of what I take from that case is that it’s the police powers of the states and local governments which are directly responsible for public health. We do live in a federal system where there is an overlap of governmental jurisdictions and powers. However, other than the federal government’s jurisdiction…

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Surprise, Surprise: The FDA is Losing Big Time the War against Unregulated Stem Cell Clinics

Surprise, Surprise: The FDA is Losing Big Time the War against Unregulated Stem Cell Clinics

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Since stem cells and other HCT/P’s have come into clinical use in the early 2000s, (starting with one of my maverick doctor clients in the South), the FDA has attempted to regulate the field. Early on, the FDA adopted HCT/P regulations, that would be 21 CRF 1271. These regs made clear that allogeneic and expanded/cultured stem cells were regulated as new drugs. HOwever, there was one giant hole in the regulations, that being autologous, same surgical procedures. That hole in…

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Religious Exemption Guidance from the EEOC

Religious Exemption Guidance from the EEOC

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I receive many requests for consultations to help filling out employer religious exemption requests. For many reasons, not the least of which is my litigation work, I don’t offer that service. However, the EEOC publishes some pretty good information about the religious exemptions requirements (and what it does not require), including some information about how far employers can go in questioning the sincerity of the beliefs, and the whole reasonable accommodation issue. If you haven’t seen it, here it is….

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There is more to the Supreme Court’s Decision Not to Hear Maine’s Heathcare Worker’s Vaccine Mandate than the Headline

There is more to the Supreme Court’s Decision Not to Hear Maine’s Heathcare Worker’s Vaccine Mandate than the Headline

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On Friday it was widely reported that the Supreme Court decided not to take up an emergency application for a stay of Maine’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, which mandate had a medical but not a religious exemption/accommodation. But, there was actually more going on at the Supremes than the headline indicated, and it is very welcome news for those who believe there is a constitutional right to a religious exemption to a vaccine mandate. The result of course was…

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Breaking News on the Second Circuit’s Review of the NY Department of Health Vaccine Mandate and MORE BREAKING NEWS FROM THE SUPREME COURT

Breaking News on the Second Circuit’s Review of the NY Department of Health Vaccine Mandate and MORE BREAKING NEWS FROM THE SUPREME COURT

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As expected, the the Second Circuit has just issued an order reversing the Northern District of New York’s preliminary injunction barring New York from enforcing its COVID vaccine mandate for New York State health care practitioners. It also affirmed the Brooklyn district court’s denial of the preliminary injunction against the same law filed by We the Patriots. All we have so far is the order which says that a decision will be issued “expeditiously.” Here is the order FWIW. 2nd…

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