SAN JOSE, Calif. — As an emergency physician at Stanford and Mills-Peninsula hospitals who has treated hundreds of COVID-19 patients, Dr. Ram Duriseti recalled bucking a prevailing treatment strategy early in the pandemic of rushing the sickest patients onto ventilators not only to help them breathe but to reduce spread of the virus.
The medical world has since backed away from such aggressive use of ventilators, Duriseti said, but he fears in the near future his professional instincts could cost him his medical license under a new California law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed at the end of September. Set to take effect next year, it bars doctors from spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
Duriseti has joined four other California physicians in filing a federal lawsuit against Newsom and the state medical board arguing the law violates doctors’ constitutional First Amendment free speech and Fourteenth Amendment due process rights.
