If a Doctor has Neglected you or a family member
File a Complaint Today!

Background: With the passing of AB 2098 in California (https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB2098), starting January 1, 2023, California licensed Medical Doctors and Osteopathic Doctors will be disciplined for unprofessional conduct if they "disseminate misinformation or disinformation related to COVID-19."

A Voice for Choice Advocacy is tracking legal challenges to this new law.  Three legal suits have been filed thus far (American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU): https://www.aclunc.org/sites/default/files/60-1%20-%20Proposed%20ACLU%20Amici%20Brief.pdf, Liberty Justice Center: https://libertyjusticecenter.org/cases/mcdonald-v-lawson/ and New Civil Liberties Alliance: https://nclalegal.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Hoeg-v.-Newsom_Complaint_Final-1.pdf).  All three argue similar talking points to those made by A Voice for Choice Advocacy in conversations with legislative offices this session, as reasons to oppose or amend the bill – specifically, challenging the definition of misinformation (“false information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus contrary to the standard of care"), given ever mutating COVID-19 variants, changing vaccine efficacy and the influx of treatments. 

For a State Medical Board to take disciplinary action against a doctor, the doctor must be reported to the state board(s) in which they hold a current medical license.  All 50 states and the District of Columbia each have their own medical board with their own specific process for filing and investigating complaints from the public.  Other healthcare professionals, such as Osteopathic Doctors, Nurses and Pharmacists have their own licensing boards.  To note: These boards are there to provide protection to the consumer, not of the licensee even though this is sometimes not obvious in their actions!

If an individual or organization appears to have violated the laws within a State Medical Board’s jurisdiction, Board staff will investigate the allegations and charges may be filed.  The following are the types of complaints reviewed by State Medical Boards:

- Quality of Care (Misdiagnosis, treatment/medication causing side effects, surgical complications, negligent care, etc.)
- Office Practice (Failure to provide a legitimate exemption, failure to provide records, failure to submit VAERS report, etc.)
- Inappropriate Prescribing
- Provider Impairment (Under the influence of drugs or alcohol, mental or physical impairment)
- Sexual Misconduct
- Unlicensed Activity (Aiding and abetting unlicensed practice, unlicensed provider)

In 2018, A Voice for Choice Advocacy joined forces with Building Bridges in Children’s Health (BBCH) to create an information sheet on the Required Precautions in Medical Abuse or Neglect Reporting in California: Legal Standards & Medical Ethics, to help parents and doctors navigate coercion of medical procedures and treatments: https://avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/AVFCA-BBCH-image.jpg

California Law allows for the use of "alternative or complementary medicine," defined as “those health care methods of diagnosis, treatment, or healing that are not generally used but that provide a reasonable potential for therapeutic gain in a patient's medical condition that is not outweighed by the risk of the health care method.” (B&P Section 2234.1).  However, hundreds of doctors have and many more will be disciplined for using alternative or complementary treatments, such as writing vaccine medical exemptions based on genetics and CDC contraindications, prescribing Ivermectin for COVID-19 symptoms and recommending children who have had COVID-19 not get vaccinated, etc.  Other doctors, nurses and overzealous members of the public, who believe there is no other option than the western medical and pharmaceutical complex, are the ones who file complaints against these doctors.  

Filing a Complaint!

Take Action: A Voice for Choice Advocacy gets hundreds of emails each year from patients and family members whose doctors have been negligent, have not fulfilled their oath to do no harm, don’t believe their patients, writing off their concerns as mental health issues, and/or have denied them medical care among other things.  While AVFCA cannot submit a complaint on your behalf, the state specific resources below will Empower You to file a complaint against a doctor who has been negligent. 

If any of the follow criteria apply to you or a family member or if your doctor has neglected your care in any other way, please file a complaint with your State Medical Board, against that doctor:

- Failure to give informed consent for a medical treatment, which includes the risks, the benefits and the alternatives
- Inappropriate harassment or dismissal from practice
- Denied medical care
- Delay or cancellation of procedures due to non-vaccination/non-masking/non-testing
- Denied complementary or alternative treatments
- Refusal to write a legitimate medical exemption for vaccination, masking or any other legitimate medical reason
- Failure/Refusal to file a VAERS report and/or chart adverse vaccine reactions
- Failure to give a Vaccine Information Statement or EUA summary prior to vaccination
- Giving false or misleading information regarding the nature and risks of the COVID-19 virus, its prevention and treatment; and the development, safety, and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines
-  Failure to acknowledge medical symptoms, possibly blaming mental health imbalances
- Falsification of medical records
- Refusal to allow a family member to remain with the patient

In 2016, A Voice for Choice Advocacy helped launch the Neglect Report project (www.neglectreport.com), to assist patients and family members in filing complaints to state Medical Boards.  Go to www.neglectreport.com for instructions on how to report your doctor, and links to all 50 State Medical Board Complaint forms. 

Specifically for California, the Medical Board has an online complaint tutorial “how to” which guides you through the process:  https://www.dca.ca.gov/webapps/breeze/file_a_complaint_breeze/file_a_complaint_breeze.html 

While one complaint is likely to be dismissed, if hundreds of complaints are filed the State Medical Boards will have to take notice.

If different type of individual or organization neglected your or a family member's care, find the licensing board they are overseen by and file a complaint to that board.

Please share the information in this email, giving credit to A Voice for Choice Advocacy, with this link: https://avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org/file-a-medical-board-complaint/.

If you found this information helpful and appreciate the work A Voice for Choice Advocacy is doing, please support us by making a donation today.

Together we can make change happen!

C

Christina Hildebrand
President/Founder
A Voice for Choice Advocacy, Inc.
[email protected]
www.AVoiceForChoiceAdvocacy.org