TUCSON, Ariz., Sept. 28, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dr. Paul Church, expelled from the staff of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston on March 30 for communications related to the risks of homosexual behavior, has officially appealed to the hospital board, related AAPS.
Dr. Church hand-delivered a letter requesting that the Board of Directors review the decision to expel him after an exemplary 30-year career as a urologist. Brian Camenker of MassResistance accompanied him to deliver a CitizenGo petition to the hospital president signed by 4,100 people. The petition asks for reinstatement and an end to hospital harassment.
There were no issues related to patient care, and no accusations of discriminating against anyone. As previously noted by AAPS, Dr. Church had simply used the hospital's communication system to warn of undisputed health risks and to protest the hospital's promotion of unhealthy behavior and lifestyles.
"If he had conveyed concerns about smoking, there would have been no problem," states AAPS executive director Jane Orient, M.D. "But telling the politically incorrect truth about even larger risks can end a distinguished career."
In the future, BIMDC's actions may be viewed in the same light as tobacco companies are now, she added, but how many patients will have been harmed?
"The larger issue is how can patients trust their doctor to tell them the truth about anything, if a hospital can destroy his livelihood if he departs from the approved script?" Orient asks.
Petition signatories include concerned citizens from all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, Washington, D.C., and the Virgin Islands. They also include people from 77 foreign countries, including Mexico, Canada, Bangladesh, China, Poland, Australia, Egypt, Nigeria, and the United Kingdom.
BIMDC's action is an attack on the integrity of the medical profession, as well as on bedrock American freedoms, Orient states. "It is illiberal, intolerant, and medically irresponsible. It is shocking that the controversy is not at the top of local and national news."
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a national organization representing physicians in all specialties, founded in 1943 to preserve private medicine and the patient-physician relationship.