Yakima Doctor Placed on 5-year Probation, Fined, And Ordered to Re-Education Camp
Even as an FDA lawyer admits in federal court that doctors can legally prescribe ivermectin for COVID, Dr. Rick Wilkinson of Yakima was ordered by the Washington Medical Commission to undergo an extensive program of re-education and pay fines if he wants to retain his restricted license. It is unknown if he has appealed the order.
After a long investigation and a five-day hearing in April, the commission’s findings in Dr. Wilkinson can be summarized as: his conduct was unprofessional, he failed to correctly prescribe ivermectin off-label and he didn’t record everything about a few patients. If that’s all, then maybe the investigation was more an invasion of his privacy and akin to a fishing expedition.
Wilkinson Re-education Order 12Aug23
Section III of the order, handed down on August 12th, 2023 specifies that Dr. Wilkinson is restricted from prescribing ivermectin for non-FDA approved indications (off-label). The WMC case must have been thin since they write that Dr. Wilkinson can’t prescribe anything for patients without first (1) establishing a physician-patient relationship by seeing the patient either in-person or via real-time video; (2) taking the patient’s history and conducting an appropriate examination of the patient, (3) obtaining informed consent; and (4) appropriately documenting all of this in the patient’s medical record.” This part of the order is quite basic and seems to say ‘be a good doctor,’ which doesn’t even amount to a wrist-slap. Was this section more of a humiliating slap in the face?
Digging further into the response document, the WMC ordered that he enroll in a Clinical Competency Assessment conducted by the University of San Diego, bear its cost of $18,000 or more, and undergo physical, cognitive, and psychological screening. After successful completion, Dr. Wilkinson “must follow all recommendations” and “is not allowed to dispute any of the statements or recommendations of the PACE report,” from the course providers. These self-contradictory statements violates the concept of informed consent and is worded stronger than CDC ‘recommendations’ on childhood vaccines that become ‘musts’ at the state level. Since parents can file an exemption for most vaccines, can this doctor seek an exemption from any part of the order?
The WMC order goes on to require additional costly Continuing Medical Education (CME), regular Compliance Audits (a personal report and attestation every 6 months), and a $15,000 fine.
The order concludes with an explanation that some of the patient records supplied as case exhibits R1 through R15 to support Dr. Wilkinson will be sealed via the Presiding Officer’s request. This was done supposedly to protect identifiable patient information. Why couldn’t the WMC just redact personal info from the exhibits? Undoubtedly, these exhibits show the doctor in a good light. Now, these records will not see the light of day without protracted legal wrangling.
We will be watching for Dr. Wilkinson to appeal the order. Especially in light of the recent statement by a Department of Justice Lawyer Ashley Cheung Honold in a federal ivermectin case that the “FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID.”