Missouri state Rep. Tricia Derges is pushing a bill to give assistant physicians like herself a pathway to becoming fully licensed doctors in the state.
Not that Derges — among the highest-profile holders of the assistant physician license created in 2014 to ease a doctor shortage — is the most persuasive advocate right now.
Derges was indicted last year on charges accusing her of selling fake stem-cell treatments, illegally prescribing drugs and fraudulently receiving COVID-19 relief funds. Derges, who did not respond to multiple messages sent to her and her lawyer, has pleaded not guilty. But she has already been kicked out of the Republican caucus, forced to move her legislative office into a Statehouse broom closet, put on a three-year probation for her narcotics license, and denied the ability to run for reelection as a Republican following her indictment. A trial is set for June.
