COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) 鈥 Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed part of a bill late Thursday that state lawmakers cast as protecting the medical free speech of doctors and other health professionals but that the Republican governor says would 鈥渢otally gut鈥 the state鈥檚 ability to regulate misconduct.
DeWine left in place another provision of the bill that will alow law enforcement agencies for police body camera video, despite objections raised by open government groups including the American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP.
DeWine鈥檚 veto of the health-related language comes as Republican President-elect Donald Trump anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the nation鈥檚 health agencies and with still festering in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeWine said in a veto message that the medical oversight language added to a the bill could have had "devastating and deadly consequences for patient health.鈥
鈥淥hio鈥檚 medical licensing boards exist to protect patients and the public from bad actors in the medical field,鈥 he wrote. He said health professionals who give harmful medical care shouldn't get a 鈥渓egal shield鈥 to avoid accountability by "saying there was a difference of 鈥榤edical opinion.鈥欌
Ohio lawmakers passed at around 2 a.m. on the final night of their lame duck session last month. That was after they turned it into a 鈥淐hristmas tree bill,鈥 loaded with controversial items from other pending legislation. DeWine also vetoed to other provisions of the 325-page bill that would have established new ethics law exemptions and dealt with clerks of court.
The Ohio Ethics Commission praised his veto of the ethics exemptions, which Executive Director Paul Nick said in a statement 鈥渨ould have significantly weakened鈥 the state's ethics law by allowing mayors and other executive officers to have interests in public contracts held by public agencies they serve.
Still, the medical freedom section would arguably have had the most sweeping impact. It called for prohibiting the Ohio Department of Health and the state鈥檚 pharmacy and medical boards from disciplining any pharmacist or other licensed health care professional for 鈥減ublicly or privately expressing a medical opinion that does not align鈥 with the 鈥渙pinions鈥 of any state, county or city health authority.
DeWine nonetheless left in place a provision in the bill that declares Ohio outside the jurisdiction of the World Health Organization, the U.N.'s health agency.
DeWine was among three Republican governors who did not sign onto that their 24 GOP colleagues sent to the Biden administration in May opposing the WHO鈥檚 draft proposal for responding to the next worldwide pandemic. They argued the 鈥減andemic treaty鈥 would strip governors of their health authority and give the WHO unprecedented powers on U.S. soil. Those claims were debunked, but a backlash of various sorts the global deal.
Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, a nonpartisan group that's been working for years to advance limiting vaccine mandates imposed by businesses, health care providers and governments, backed the vetoed medical free speech provision.
Its campaign coincided with DeWine during the pandemic that he said would have handicapped the state鈥檚 ability to issue emergency health orders. Lawmakers failed to override his first veto, but they managed to restore a weaker version of the law .
The medical freedom group has downplayed any role that the case of Sherri Tenpenny played in driving the latest medical free speech proposal.
Tenpenny, an Ohio osteopathic doctor, drew national attention when video of her June 2021 testimony before state legislators that COVID-19 vaccines made people magnetic was posted to the internet. She suggested that vaccines against the coronavirus might be making people 鈥渋nterface鈥 with cell towers and interfering with women鈥檚 menstrual cycles.
The state medical board, which regulates physicians and can discipline them for making false or deceptive medical statements, launched an inquiry into the matter after receiving some 350 complaints. The panel suspended Tenpenny's medical license in 2023 after she refused to cooperate, including declining to meet with investigators, answer written questions or sit for a deposition.
Tenpenny has since agreed to pay a $3,000 fine and cooperate with investigators. earlier this year.
