FLORIDA— Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is calling on the Florida Legislature to “protect health care practitioners’ freedom of speech” and bolster patient access to and education of COVID-19 treatments through right to prescribe.
Dubbed the “Free Speech of Health Care Practitioners Act,” House Bill 687 and Senate Bill 1184, would solidify these rights for both patients and health care workers, said DeSantis.
“Despite ongoing health care practitioner shortages across the nation, these crucial frontline workers continue to face threats to their licenses if they dissent from the prevailing narrative of the medical establishment,” said DeSantis.
“I am calling on the Legislature to pass this important free speech bill and strengthen the legislation by solidifying the right to prescribe and access COVID treatments. We must safeguard the free speech of our health care providers because it is through open dialogue and debate that science advances and patients receive the best care.”
“Practitioners are trained to know how to best care for their individual patients – not bureaucrats at the federal level,” said Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joe Ladapo.
“For our country to succeed we need more ideas, not less.,” said Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis.
The proposed bill would protect health care workers from having their licensure revoked for simply exercising their right of free speech, according to a press release.
With the enhancements proposed, the bill would also ensure that “woke corporations” cannot prevent a doctor from exercising their judgment, the release said.
