US News

Army Doctor Says He’s Being ‘Persecuted’ for Giving Exemptions to COVID-19 Vaccine

Distressed Patriotic Flag Unisex T-Shirt - Celebrate Comfort and Country $11.29 USD Get it here>>


A U.S. military doctor is alleging the Army has taken a series of retaliatory actions against him in response to the doctor granting medical waivers to the COVID-19 vaccine for some service members.

Maj. Samuel Sigoloff,  former director of the Raymond W. Bliss Army Health Center at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, has been ordered to stop seeing patients, assigned to do menial duties, given a relief for cause officer evaluation report, and risks having his license to practice medicine revoked.

Sigoloff’s attorney describes the Army’s actions as “retribution” for the doctor practicing medicine in a way inconsistent with the Pentagon’s COVID-19 vaccine policies.

Medical Exemptions

Not long after Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s August 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate, Sigoloff began seeing a number of patients who had need for “legitimate medical exemptions” from the vaccine, the Army doctor told The Epoch Times.

But within weeks of the vaccine mandate, Sigoloff was suspended by the clinic commander, a registered nurse, at the Raymond Bliss Health Center for providing these medical exemptions, he said. All the medical exemptions he provided for service members were invalidated by this registered nurse, he added.

According to Sigoloff, each of these patients received appropriate medical evaluations and by his estimation, it would have been more risky or harmful to administer the shot to these service members than it would for them to be unvaccinated.

“This goes outside a nurse’s authority, practicing medicine without a license,” Sigoloff said.

He went on to note that she is not a doctor but more like “the CEO” of the hospital. “Individual medical decisions are made by the patient and licensed medical provider that are in the room together, not by a registered nurse,” he said. Attorney Sean Timmons, who is representing Sigoloff agreed, pointing out that “he’s the one with the professional license on the line,” he said.

In a memo dated Sept. 16, 2021, and viewed by The Epoch Times, the clinic’s commander stated that until further notice, the sole authority to approve temporary medical exemptions resided with the commander.

“This memo is a declaration that she is practicing medicine without a license,” Sigoloff said.

The commander also banned Sigoloff from prescribing Ivermectin. A peer-reviewed study recently found that regular use of Ivermectin reduced the risk of dying from COVID-19 by 92 percent. Sigoloff said that receiving punishment for prescribing a controversial, yet effective treatment, was also “outside of her authority.”

Timmons said, “As a nurse, she is not allowed to practice medicine but here she is basically giving orders to physicians like Major Sigoloff to practice medicine in a certain way.”

“That’s like my paralegal telling me how to practice law,” the attorney added. While he welcomes a paralegal’s help on certain matters of the law, “at the end of the day, I’m the one signing the pleadings and the one filing stuff in courts,” Timmons said.

‘Persecuted’

For pointing these issues out to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division in November 2021, Sigoloff said he subsequently received negative counseling and had to write an essay about Article 94 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

“This pertains to mutiny and sedition, and comes with a max penalty of death,” he said. “All this for reporting a crime.”

According to Timmons, “this was nothing more than a message to Sigoloff to cut it out or get destroyed.”

Sigoloff has not seen a patient in over a year and has been subjected to performing only menial tasks at the clinic. “I moved here in July 2021 to be the medical director,” he said. “And now I’m being attacked from all sides, persecuted for doing the job I was selected over peers, to do.”

According to Timmons, “the military has decided to start engaging in impermissible, unlawful, and despicable reprisal towards Sigoloff, questioning his suitability as a physician.” The attorney alleged that a “sham peer review” by two other physicians looking into Sigoloff’s past practices and previous assignments is currently underway.

“What they’re doing to him is retribution for practicing medicine is a way contrary to their plan,” Timmons said. “The Army is using every mechanism available to harass him.”

Sigoloff said he is also currently being investigated for allegedly threatening the secretary of defense after he retweeted an image of Austin behind a syringe with concentric circles, labeling him as an “Oath Breaker” with a reference to Oath Keepers. While he denies the allegation that the circles are indicative of a target or any association with the Oath Keepers group, Sigoloff began to be escorted from the clinic in September, and now must report to the garrison command building. The major is not allowed into the clinic unless escorted, even if he requires personal health care.

Sigoloff is set to have a Quality Assurance appeal at Fort Bliss, Texas, concerning his medical credentials in early October. He has never been stationed at Fort Bliss and he cannot find any regulation that would require or allow the change of venue, he said. The commander at the new venue wants to completely revoke his ability to practice medicine in the Army, whereas his current duty station only wanted to reduce his practice privileges. Revocation of his privilege to practice would be reported to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which would generate a report to the Texas Medical Board and possibly affect his ability to practice medicine as a private citizen. 

Eight Congressmembers in August sent a letter to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth to request an expedited review and approval of Sigoloff’s request for honorable separation from the Army. The letter states that Sigoloff has been “the target of retaliation and possibly illegal acts taken by his chain of command.”

In response to an inquiry from The Epoch Times, a public affairs officer at the Raymond W. Bliss Army Health Center said, “At this time we are unable to comment on Maj. Sigoloff’s allegations due to an ongoing investigation.”

Sigoloff emphasized that his views do not reflect those of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army.

The Department of Defense and Department of the Army did not return inquiries from The Epoch Times.

J.M. Phelps

Follow

J.M. Phelps is a writer and researcher of both Islamist and Chinese threats. He’s on Twitter at @JMPhelpsLC



Source link

TruthUSA

I'm TruthUSA, the author behind TruthUSA News Hub located at https://truthusa.us/. With our One Story at a Time," my aim is to provide you with unbiased and comprehensive news coverage. I dive deep into the latest happenings in the US and global events, and bring you objective stories sourced from reputable sources. My goal is to keep you informed and enlightened, ensuring you have access to the truth. Stay tuned to TruthUSA News Hub to discover the reality behind the headlines and gain a well-rounded perspective on the world.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.