Fired for Good Judgment a Sign of Physicians' Lost Respect
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COMMENTARY

Fired for Good Judgment a Sign of Physicians' Lost Respect

Melissa Walton-Shirley, MD

Disclosures

February 23, 2021

175

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What happened to Hasan Gokal, MD, should stick painfully in the craws of all physicians. It should serve as a call to action because Gokal is sitting at home today without a job and under threat of further legal action while we continue about our day.  

Gokal's "crime" is that he vaccinated 10 strangers and acquaintances with soon-to-expire doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. He drove to the homes of some in the dark of night and injected others on his Sugar Land, Texas, lawn. He spent hours in a frantic search for willing recipients to beat the expiration clock. With minutes to spare, he gave the last dose to his at-risk wife, who has symptomatic pulmonary sarcoidosis, but whose age meant she did not fall into a vaccine priority tier.

 

According to the New York Times  Gokal's wife was hesitant, afraid he might get into trouble. But why would she be hesitant ? He wasn't doing anything immoral. Perhaps she knew how far physicians have fallen and how bitterly they both could suffer.

In Barren County, Kentucky, where I live, a state of emergency was declared

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