Two Ontario doctors accused of spreading COVID misinformation, including one who provided groundless vaccine exemptions to 168 people, attesting that the shots would expose them to “unacceptable medical risk,” have agreed to give up their licences to practise, and to never seek one again.
Christopher Hilton Hassell and Zoltan Peter Rona are among the latest succession of doctors to face disciplinary hearings over their professional conduct during COVID-19.
Hassell committed professional misconduct for his prescribing of the controversial anti-parasitic ivermectin for COVID-19, and for providing mask and vaccine exemptions without adequate medical justification.
Rona made “inflammatory” statements about vaccinations, suggested in his Twitter posts that the public was being conned by medical experts and called Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases official who became the face of America’s COVID response, a “murderer”.
Both doctors agreed to never re-apply to practise medicine in Ontario, or any other jurisdiction, again.
Their cases are part of a crackdown by the doctors’ College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario on members it has accused of spreading misleading, unscientific and deceptive information about COVID-19. At last count, there were 50 investigations into 30 physicians as of January.