Federal court blocks California's new medical misinformation law

California law aimed to punish doctors who give patients false information about Covid-19.

SAN FRANCISCO - A California federal judge has temporarily blocked enforcement of a new state law allowing regulators to punish doctors for spreading false or misleading information about Covid-19 vaccinations and treatments to their patients.

The law, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last year, was intended to combat the waves of misinformation that have occurred during the pandemic.

Although the wording of the statute had been narrowly tailored, Judge William B. Shubb of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California ruled Wednesday that its definitions of disinformation and uncertainty about its application were "inconti tutionally vague". /p>

The case is one of two equal challenges facing the law, the first of its kind in the nation to attempt to resolve an issue that the Surgeon General says of the United States, the American Medical Association and others, cost unnecessary illnesses and lives.

In December, another California Central District judge refused an injunction in a similar case. The split verdicts increase the likelihood that the law's fate may ultimately be decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco.

" I think the judge saw the law for what it was: an attempt to silence doctors who disagree” with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other regulatory bodies, said said Jenin Younes, an attorney for the New Civil Liberties Alliance in Washington who represented five doctors who brought the lawsuit.

Judge Shubb, who was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, wrote in his decision that he did not consider whether the law violated the free speech protections of the First Amendment. Instead, he concluded that the provisions of the law violated the plaintiffs' due process rights under the 14th Amendment.

The law expanded the authority of the California Medical Board, which authorizes physicians, to designate the dissemination of false or misleading medical information to patients as "unfair conduct." professional ". This could result in the suspension or revocation of a physician's license in the state.

Judge Shubb ruled that the definition of misinformation -" false information that is contradicted by contemporary scientific consensus information contrary to the standard of care" - could have a chilling effect on doctors' interactions with their patients. He granted a preliminary injunction to block the law, pending a full hearing of the complaint.

One ​​of the plaintiffs, Aaron Kheriaty, a psychiatrist who has challenged many government policies that have emerged during the pandemic, said in an interview Thursday that the law was too rigid, especially given the evolving understanding of how best to deal with a pandemic like this.

“The misinformation in today's quotes is the tomorrow's standard of care,” he said.

Governor Newsom's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.