John Littell, persecuted
for being a thoughtful doctor

They’re coming for you next: When the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) stripped Florida doctor John Littell of his medical license in March 2023 because he had publicly advocated the use of ivermectin to treat COVID patients while questioning many of the government health policies being imposed during the epidemic, he immediate appealed.

I reported on ABFM’s attempt to blacklist Littell back in April, shortly after it took action against him. At the time it appeared the ABFM’s actions were prompted because he had spoken publicly about his successful use of ivermectin at a hospital board meeting, a meeting from which he was evicted.

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.

ABFM then sent him a letter “saying he’d been de-certified for ‘spreading false, inaccurate, and misleading materials about COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccination, and treatment and mitigation of the virus.'”

Finally in response to Littell’s appeal in July ABFM decided to reinstate his license, but it also declared the license was retroactively de-certified for the previous three months, even though he had still being seeing patients because his license was supposed to be still active pending appeal.

“It’s like a slap on the wrist so they’d feel good about it, but wouldn’t, presumably, have to face any legal action,” [Littell] said. His attorney agreed. “They did it in a very face-saving way,” Mr. Childers said.

…He still may face consequences for having the blemish on his record, he said. He’ll have to report it to the hospitals at which he works and explain what happened, he said. “Every time I go up for privileges with a hospital or any other institution, they’re going to say, ‘Well, has your license ever been suspended or revoked, and has your board certification ever been revoked?’ So, it’s still an issue. It’s not like you can just forget about it.”

He’s been advised by some other doctors, such as cardiologist Peter McCullough, to pursue legal action for the disciplinary measure they feel was wrong, he said.

There is no word yet on whether Littell will take that further legal action. He should.

The bottom line still remains: The powers in control did not like it that Littell was publicly disagreeing with their foolish COVID health policies, especially when it comes to ivermectin, and so it acted to punish him for daring to speak his mind. And though it backed off, recognizing it had no legal leg to stand on, it did it in such a way to warn Littell and all other doctors that they better watch what they do. In other words, ABFM was acting like a mobster demanding protection money. “Nice practice you got here. Sure would be a shame if something happened to it.”

It must be noted again that the hostility by government health officials to the use of ivermectin was not only unjustified and contrary to known medical data, a federal appeals court has recently ruled [pdf] that their actions were also likely illegal.

“FDA is not a physician. It has authority to inform, announce, and apprise — but not to endorse, denounce, or advise,” Judge Don Willett wrote for the appeals court. “The Doctors have plausibly alleged that FDA’s Posts fell on the wrong side of the line between telling about and telling to.”

The FDA’s campaign, which included viral signs reading “You are not a horse,” emphasized agency recommendations that ivermectin — an anti-parasite medication often used for horses but sometimes prescribed to humans — should not be used to treat COVID-19.

In this ruling, the court allowed a lawsuit against the FDA by three doctors to go forward. Each claims the FDA’s action damaged their reputation and their practice. One doctor was fired, another suspended.

Based on this ruling it appears Littell also has a case as well. The ABFM had no evidence justifying its de-certification of his medical license. He had done nothing wrong, and its decision to reinstate him only underlines this fact. I repeat, he should sue.