Citizens for Healthcare Excellence Action Fund (2024)

A proposal for Sarasota Memorial Hospital to embrace the controversial medical philosophies of Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo found no support Tuesday when the Sarasota County Public Hospital Board met in a closed session and drafted a new statement reinforcing patients’ rights, the doctor-patient relationship and encouraging “patients and their health care providers to access all credible resources regarding their discussions and decisions.”

The new motion ultimately passed on an 8-1 vote by the board – after removal of a fifth provision, to forward public concerns about vaccines to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration – with Patricia Maraia dissenting.

Three 'medical freedom' advocates are seeking positions on the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Board.

Medical freedom is an ideology that seeks to impose anti-science, anti-vaccine dogma on health professionals. Similar to book banning, this ideology harms the overall well-being of citizens.

For example, it could require doctors to treat COVID-19 with Ivermectin (a horse dewormer), bleach and UV light, while denying a patient modern medical procedure.

Google 'medical freedom' to learn more about this ideology and its degenerative values.

The leader of the local medical freedom movement is disgraced Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn, who was pardoned by former President Donald Trump after he had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI.

Flynn has previously called for privatizing SMH.

If medical freedom gains traction on the SMH board, there will likely be an exodus of medical doctors from Sarasota County. And inferior health care will follow.

Robert Herickhoff, Nokomis

Depending on the election outcome, they could gain the board majority and with that shift would come not only radical changes in the standards for what qualifies as effective and ethical health care, but the threat of privatization of the hospital. (Private or corporate ownership, which shifts the priority to profitability, has been shown to reduce services, boost costs, increase patient-staff ratios and bring poorer patient outcomes.)

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Because the outcome could dictate the future of Sarasota’s public health care system, it is critical voters be registered (29 days in advance) to vote in the August 20 primary – which could serve as the final election in some cases – and make informed choices. As we’ve seen with the Sarasota County School Board since the majority was “flipped” in 2022, who prevails can make a world of difference.

Pam Beitlich, a candidate for Sarasota County Public Hospital Board, announced she has raised more than $18,000 for her campaign.

The Republican touted the total from her first quarterly fundraising report. The substantial haul is more than 90 times the $200 raised by her Primary opponent, Mary Flynn O’Neill, for the at-large post.Both candidates are running for Seat 3 on the board.

“The complex issues facing health care in the future cannot be overstated, and I am confident I have the knowledge base to bring expertise to the table,” Beitlich said. “I can’t thank the people of this community enough for rallying behind my campaign to ensure every Sarasota County resident continues to receive the very best health care that they have come to expect from SMH.”

Beitlich announced the total days after Kevin Cooper announced raising upward of $16,000 for Seat 2, which is also on the ballot this year.

Both Beitlich and Cooper are part of an anti-privatization slate of candidates running to preserve Sarasota Memorial Hospital as a public institution.

The right-wing assault on public health didn’t end with Covid conspiracies. The attack is ongoing, and as it unfolds, we’re seeing examples of how a country under Republican control could pervert the concepts of health and wellness to align with pseudoscientists and far-right hucksters.

This fear came to mind as I read a new Daily Beast report on attempts by conservative anti-vaxxers to win control of the medical board that oversees the prestigious Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Florida.

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A victory for the conspiracy theorists would allow them to set standards for what qualifies as effective and ethical health care — a horrifying prospect.Florida is already offering a crash course in the dangers of allowing pseudoscience to drive health policy, in the policies of its surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo.

I am biased. But I am not an ideologue or radical.

I can live with a lot of the far-right agenda being pushed in my community. Honestly, a lot of it just doesn’t impact me personally and I don’t think of myself as some kind of champion for justice these days.

But the 'medical freedom' slate running for Sarasota Memorial Hospital Board seats has me activated. The unsafe practices encouraged by these people put my life in danger.

I do not want my public hospital going private. And I need these services. This alone has gotten more than my attention.

What I would like to know, and encourage the newspaper to investigate, is this: What kind of positions are Blue Cross, Humana, United and Medicare taking on all of this? I wonder if these entities would be willing to contract with hospitals that practice so-called 'medical freedom' and, if so, will it affect the rates for coverage?

We have a world-class public hospital here in our county. Let’s keep it that way and free of politics.

J. Maxwell Jackson, Venice

The sister of Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn and a band of conservative anti-vax activists are running for the board of a renowned public hospital in Florida under the banner of “medical freedom.”

If they win, they’ll hold a majority over Sarasota’s award-winning facility where one of their allies—elected in 2022 with two other "health freedom candidates" to the nine-member panel—is already trying to peddle vaccine misinformation.

I read the March 29 article, 'Three candidates file for Sarasota Public Hospital Board on a ‘medical freedom’ slate,' and still have no idea what qualifies these people to run a $1.7 billion hospital system.

One member of the trio is former Homeland Security adviser Michael Flynn’s sister, Mary Flynn O’Neill.

The average age in Sarasota is eight years older than the age statewide. We should all pay attention to the governance of our highly rated hospital system.

To be clear, 'medical freedom' means freedom to be sick or freedom to die of preventable infectious diseases and taking horse pills, and telling parents they can ignore meningitis vaccines and sacrifice children for politics.

Flynn’s brother was pardoned by then-President Donald Trump after he had twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. He was a failed general who was forced to take early retirement for alleged poor leadership – and he was criticized by the late Gen. Colin Powell, a four-star general who held roles ranging from chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to U.S. secretary of state.

Let’s turn our hospital over to Flynn. What could go wrong?

I do not want my hospital to go for-profit and become a health care system where doctors get bonuses for spending less time with patients. I am a doctor, but I am also a patient.

I am voting for 'Team Normal.' I’m voting for science, for state-of-the-art medicine and for hospital board candidates John Lutz and Dr. George Davis.

Dr. Mike Weddle, Venice

Kevin Cooper has raised a record amount in outside contributions to run for . The Venice Republican announced he raised $16,128 in the first quarter of 2024. That's about four times more than all five winners of the 2022 Hospital Board races raised combined.

"The support our campaign has received in such a short period of time is truly humbling," Cooper said. "It just goes to show how important access to quality medical care is to the residents of this community. Sarasota County is the best place in Florida, and the country, to live and raise a family and I will continue to do everything I can to preserve that for current and future generations."

The March 29 article titled “SMH board candidates file to run as a slate” should scare all Sarasota residents. If elected, the three candidates who are supported by Michael Flynn – a past adviser to former President Donald Trump – will ruin a great hospital.

Mary Flynn O’Neill, Tamzin Rosenwasser and Tanya Parus are part of the “medical freedom” movement that objected to how the hospital handled the COVID-19 pandemic.(An independent review found that the hospital acted appropriately.)

The trio also favors privatizing the hospital.

If they are elected, what is considered a very good hospital will be guided by a bunch of conspiracy theorists who do not believe that COVID-19 was dangerous.

The hospital system also runs First Physicians Group.It is important that these physicians and all concerned citizens stand up to be counted.Do not vote for these three candidates.

When you are sick and in need of good care, remember this warning: We all know what happened to our excellent school system when extremists got control of the Sarasota County School Board.

The medical dictum “First Do No Harm” should be a warning to all.These people will do lots of harm if elected.

Ike Koziol, M.D., retired, Sarasota

Sarasota Memorial Hospital is ranked in a Newsweek survey as the fourth best hospital in Florida.

It is one of the county’s biggest assets. But Michael Flynn, a onetime adviser to former President Donald Trump, says, “It may be time to privatize this hospital.”

Privatization results in deterioration of patient care and focus on corporate profit. Look what HCA has done to Mission Health in Asheville, N.C., a great hospital no more.

Studies link hospital privatization to downsizing services, and deterioration of staff morale and care quality. If you want to retain the high quality of care we enjoy at our hospital, keep Michael Flynn and his “medical freedom” slate out of SMH.

Linda Roe Dickinson, Sarasota