Florida Doctor Stripped of Board Certification Over 'COVID-19 Misinformation'

Update, April 4, 2023: Jeff Childers, Attorney for Dr. John Littell, filed an appeal of the decision of the American Board of Family Medicine to revoke Littell's board certification. Littell's certification was reinstated while the board considers his appeal. Childers gave a written statement to the Floridian:

"We are pleased that ABFM reinstated Dr. Littell upon receipt of our notice of intention to appeal their decertification decision. Now we are in the process of working with medical professionals and scientists to respond point-by-point to the ABFM's concerns over Dr. Littell's statements about covid and treatments."

Original Story:

The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) has stripped the certification of Florida Doctor John Littell. Littell, a U.S. Army veteran and Family Physician made headlines for using Ivermectin to treat over 3000 Covid-19 patients.

"I got disciplined for giving Ivermectin which got a young mom out of the hospital in three days when she would have died," said Dr Littell speaking outside a meeting of the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Board.

Dr. Littell is facing further discipline from the ABFM, of whom Littell has been a certified member since July 13, 1990, according to the letter.

"ABFM has determined that your Public Channels contain false, inaccurate and misleading statements constituting health misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19, the COVID-19 vaccine, and the effort of public health officials to address the COVID-19 pandemic through vaccination and other mitigation measures," the letter states.

In the letter, "Professional Specialist" Andrea D. Back writes Littell violated Board Guidelines including "competence", "a commitment to lifelong learning", "honesty with the public" and "refraining from disruptive behavior in a healthcare environment". Back writes Littell violated these guidelines by making "false and misleading claims" on his Rumble channel and website.

Back writes a list of grievances against Littell including calling the Covid-19 vaccine a "product of genetic engineering". Back says Littell claimed the Covid-19 vaccine is causing the deaths of children and writes in her letter "There is no evidence that pediatric myocarditis deaths, attributed to COVID vaccination, are more numerous than prevented deaths, serious illness, or hospitalizations from COVID.

Back does not deny the Covid vaccine is causing myocarditis in children but downplays it in her letter.

"The myocarditis caused by COVID vaccination is mild and not associated with fatalities," Back states.

"Are they going to decertify Dr. Ladapo?" Littell asked in a phone interview with The Floridian. Florida Surgeon General Joe Ladapo has recommended against giving the Covid mRNA vaccines to children and recently said he does not think anyone should be taking the Covid vaccines.

Interviews with Littell went viral after he gave a speech at the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Board meeting last month in support of using Ivermectin to treat Covid and was subsequently removed by police after approaching a sympathetic board member.Since the video's release Littell has amassed a large Twitter following and even appeared on Dr. Drew's TV show to talk about what happened.

"It's not disinformation, it's good information," Littell told the Floridian. Littell also said the ABFM is using the words of other doctors who spoke at a summit he held against him.

Back's letter cites a summit Littell spoke at called "Florida Summit on COVID II: The Future of Medicine in Post-COVID America" citing among other statements a quote from Dr. Robert Malone, inventor of mRNA technology, calling COVID an "engineered pathogen".

"ABFM has determined that all of the statements include demonstrably false, inaccurate, and/or misleading statements about COVID-19 and vaccination against COVID-19 and represent an ongoing pattern of dissemination of health misinformation."

The letter states Littell's certification is "rescinded" as of March 16, 2023 and he has 20 days to appeal the decision.

Littell said the board is politically charged and "corrupt".

"You have no chance of being a conservative and speaking out and keeping your certification," said Littell, who stated he could lose his ability to teach medical students and possibly even lose the ability to be reimbursed by Medicare and Medicaid. "Will this stop me from teaching medical students? Will this stop me from working in a hospital? One would at least expect to receive a letter from the president of the American Board of Family Medicine who happens to be a family physician," Littell told the Floridian in a written statement.

Littell says he is being singled out and the letter is hypocritical.

"I guarantee this was done because of the viral video," said Littell in regard to the video of him being removed from Sarasota Memorial Hospital's board meeting. "If you decertify every physician for talking about the safety of a drug you would decertify everyone."

Littell says decertifying doctors over "COVID misinformation" is becoming a trend and fellow family physician Casey Delcoco of Indianapolis was also decertified recently.

Littell says he and his attorney Jeff Childers are not taking this sitting down and have a conference planned for this weekend to discuss the rise in censorship and come up with a plan. He says he has also reached out to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, an organization he says "represents independent positions better than anyone in the country."

"We will ultimately prevail, not only in the legal arena, but primarily in the court of public opinion," said Littell in a written statement. "If Americans want to have physicians who are truly independent, who value the Sanctity of the physician/patient relationship, and who practice according to the basic tenet, "first, do no harm," - then we, together, must fight against those institutions, such as the specialty boards, which choose rather to treat us like trainable puppies, with choke collars and tight leashes, preparing to discipline us, whenever we choose to exercise our First Amendment right to speak freely about the potential dangers of certain medications, vaccines or procedures which will, in truth, do harm to the patients we serve."

In a written statement to the Floridian, the American Board of Family Medicine said they do not comment on "issues of physician professionalism."

Read the letter sent to Dr. Littell below.