Regulators restrict medical license of Idaho health official who spread COVID-19 disinformation

(Idaho Capital Sun) — Dr. Ryan Cole’s medical license is restricted in the state of Washington after state regulators concluded that Cole knowingly shared disinformation about COVID-19 and broke medical standards by virtually prescribing ivermectin to COVID-19 patients – against medical evidence.

Cole is an Idaho pathologist who has spread COVID-19 disinformation while serving as an appointed Idaho health official.

The decision by the Washington Medical Commission restricts Cole for five years from practicing primary care medicine and from prescribing medications for patients in Washington. Cole’s medical practice, in Washington, is now limited to the practice of pathology. 

Cole broke medical practice standards by prescribing ivermectin for COVID-19 to at least four patients via an instant-message based telehealth-platform, the commission ruled. Cole likely knew his COVID-19 claims were a “misrepresentation of the true facts,” the commission ruled.

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Dr. Ryan Cole must take action to keep medical license in Washington, commission rules

If Cole wants to keep his medical license in the state of Washington, he must complete medical education courses and write an essay focused on honesty in medicine. The commission ordered Cole to complete classes focused on COVID-19, pulmonary and respiratory diseases, medical record-keeping and telehealth in six months.

The commission ordered Cole to submit an essay, at least 1,000 words long, about “professionalism, truthfulness and honesty in medicine.” The paper should, the commission says, explain how Cole would apply what he learned in his medical practice. Cole should be prepared to discuss the paper’s content with the commission, the ruling said.

The commission also ordered $5,000 in fines.

Not complying with the order could mean Cole’s license would be suspended or revoked, the commission warned. 

Cole and his attorney could not be immediately reached for comment. However, in a 40-page response to the Washington Medical Board to complaints against him, Cole and his attorney argued that he did not violate any rules when he prescribed drugs to patients over telehealth and claimed COVID-19 vaccines are dangerous. But some of the arguments in the response to the Washington Medical Commission do not match Cole’s public comments, investigations by the Idaho Capital Sun have found.

In public appearances, Cole has said the complaints are politically motivated attacks.

It is not clear what the decision means for Cole’s Idaho medical license. The Idaho Board of Medicine previously closed a complaint into Cole’s Idaho medical license without looking into patient records, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported.

Cole serves as physician representative on the Central District Health Board of Health, which directs Idaho’s largest regional public health department.

Cole can appeal the decision after completing an approved family medicine course, the commission said. 

Cole has been licensed to practice as a physician and surgeon in Washington since 2007.

Cole ‘engaged in pattern of dishonesty,’ Washington commission rules

Cole “disregarded the body of COVID-related evidence” and “misrepresented that evidence when he presented only one side of it to the public.”

Cole’s conduct could harm people and erode trust in medical professionals, the commission said.

“The behavior in (Cole’s) presentation raises concerns that (Cole) may use his professional position as a physician to harm members of the public. There can be no legitimate dispute that it also tends to lower the standing of physicians in the eyes of the public,” the commission concluded.

Cole’s care for four patients to prescribe ivermectin and other unproven medications for COVID-19 “was insufficient,” the commission ruled. Cole was also dishonest about his education and experience in family medicine in presentations, the commission said, which he continued to misrepresent during hearings before the Washington Medical Commission.

“Even if (Cole) had been more credible, his lack of recent education and experience in the provision of direct patient care also means that the Panel must give little weight to his testimony,” the commission said.

The commission referenced Cole’s frequent public comments about COVID-19 in its ruling, saying Cole “engaged in a pattern of dishonesty. Cole’s false statements — on COVID, ivermectin and masks — “are harmful and dangerous to individual patients, generate mistrust in the medical profession and in public health, and have a wide-spread negative impact on the health and well-being of our communities,” the commission said.

A 2022 investigation by the Idaho Capital Sun found that Cole gave talks and presentations in at least four foreign countries — England, France, Brazil and Ireland — and at least 15 states including Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Idaho, as well as in Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. In addition, Cole had done more than 70 online presentations, podcasts and video interviews since early 2021, the investigation found.

Cole, by saying he believed his false statements were true, “was making his own interpretations of the available COVID-19 data and was then closed to evaluating alternate viewpoints as more evidence became available,” the commission said.

That is “problematic,” the commission wrote, “as the nature of medical practice requires that physicians remain skeptical of their own interpretations and be aware of a constantly evolving body of evidence.”

Cole “interfered” with the investigation by “willfully misrepresenting facts,” the commission said. He did that when he told the commission, in a written statement, that he didn’t tell patients or the general public to avoid the COVID-19 vaccine, the commission said. That statement misrepresented the facts, the commission said, pointing to Cole’s public comments.

Cole knew, or should have known as a “reasonably prudent physician” that many of his COVID statements misrepresented the truth, the commission said.

Medical evidence does not indicate that ivermectin “is effective in treating or preventing COVID-19,” the commission said.

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