The State Medical Board of Ohio has suspended the license of a doctor who has offered criticism of COVID-19 vaccines.
The board suspended Dr. Sherri Tenpenny’s license and fined her $3,000 because she allegedly refused to respond properly to complaints that poured in after she testified to state lawmakers.
The suspension is for an indefinite period.
“In short, Dr. Tenpenny did not simply fail to cooperate with a Board investigation, she refused to cooperate. And that refusal was based on her unsupported and subjective belief regarding the Board’s motive for the investigation,” Kimberly Lee, a state official, said in the suspension order.
“Licensees of the Board cannot simply refuse to cooperate in investigations because they decide they do not like what they assume is the reason for the investigation,” Ms. Lee said.
State law enables the board to discipline medical professionals for “failure to cooperate in an investigation conducted by the board.”
Dr. Tenpenny said in a video after the suspension that she had cooperated with the board.
“We cooperated at every level. We looked at the letters; we responded appropriately and legally,” Dr. Tenpenny said.
“My lawyers … drafted responses appropriately and sent it back, and they go, ‘nope, you didn’t cooperate with us.’ Well, I guess that just simply means that they didn’t like the answers. But it didn’t mean that I failed to cooperate.”
Dr. Tenpenny graduated from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1984 and has been practicing medicine since then. The Ohio license is for osteopathic medicine and surgery.
Testimony
The board said that it began investigating Dr. Tenpenny after receiving approximately 350 complaints following her June 2021 testimony to the Ohio House of Representatives Health Committee. The testimony included claims that the COVID-19 vaccines were causing people to become magnetized.
“They can put a key on their forehead, and it sticks,” Dr. Tenpenny said at the time.
The doctor also raised concerns about side effects, including heart inflammation, that U.S. officials have since acknowledged are caused by the shots.
The board said it was investigating whether Dr. Tenpenny violated the state’s Medical Practices Act.
