Attorney General Investigates Banner Health As Surgeon Pushes Back On Mass Hysteria Of COVID-19 Testing

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(Photo by Alex Proimos/Creative Commons)

A popular surgeon was interviewed by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office last week about a complaint he filed when his clinical privileges were stripped by Banner Health after the company denied him a religious exemption to its COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

News of the attorney general’s interest in the complaint filed by Dr. Devin L. Gray comes at a time of unprecedented staffing shortages within Arizona’s hospital system. The critical shortages brought on by the segregation and firing of medical professionals like Gray based on vaccination status has led to the rationing of critical care at some facilities.

In early November, Gray was suspended by Banner Health for violation of the company’s vaccination policy. After 30 days of suspension, Gray would be deemed “to have voluntarily resigned” his privileges unless proof of vaccination was submitted, the notice said.

Gray took issue with Banner Health’s allegation that his request was not based on sincerely held beliefs. He complained to the attorney general’s office who recently assigned an investigator to the case, said Gray, who declined to reveal what questions the investigator asked during a Jan. 5 interview.

But Gray said he was “very pleased and optimistic” after the interview.

In the meantime, Gray has not given up hope of returning to Banner Health’s surgery roster.  He recently applied once again for a religious exemptions to the vaccination mandate, and is “hopeful” his privileges are reinstated “in the near future.”

LEARN MORE ABOUT DR. GRAY: HERE

Some health care professionals called last week for Gov. Doug Ducey to order statewide vaccination and mask mandates. They also demanded the governor issue a prohibition on large crowds across the state. But Gray said there is a “campaign of fear” being promulgated which is keeping people from looking into other issues and concerns about COVID-19 as well as Arizona’s health care industry.

According to Gray, the current staffing difficulties at hospitals across Arizona are the result of the vaccination mandates announced last fall which prompted thousands of health care workers and medical professionals to leave hospital jobs.

This has led to headlines about a lack of available beds for patients, but Gray pointed out that having all beds “full” does not mean there are no open beds. What it means, Gray said, is that all beds which have available staffing are full at a particular moment.

In addition, a constant bombardment of news of a crisis related to a growing number of positive COVID-19 tests is keeping attention away from the fact most people do not have worrisome symptoms. The “mass hysteria” as Gray calls it surrounding test results is distracting attention from hospital operation issues and treatment options.

If a public safety worker or a restaurant server tests positive, they are told to go home for several days. Those considered at high-risk (such as people ages 65 or older, people who are obese or overweight, women who are pregnant, and people who are immunocompromised) are eligible for various treatments, but the Arizona Department of Health Services has acknowledged that access to such treatments can be difficult, especially in Arizona’s rural areas.

But those who are at high risk of COVID-19 complications are usually also at high-risk from other contagions, yet “we don’t require people to undergo constant testing during flu and cold seasons,” Gray noted. “What is society gaining?”

That question could be behind a recent change announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concerning health care workers. Dignity Health – Southwest Division issued a memorandum to its Arizona employees last Friday amending the company’s return-to-work guidelines for all staff who test positive for COVID-19.

The guidelines come from the CDC, according to the memo.

“These guidelines allow COVID-19 positive employees and providers who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic to work without a quarantine period” under certain conditions,” the memo states.

Those conditions assume the staff member “feels well enough” to work and has clearance from a manager to work. In addition, the staff member must wear a N-95 mask “for 10 days after the date they tested positive for COVID-19 and continues feeling well enough to return to work” the memo adds.

And in an acknowledgement of the limited supply of COVID-19 tests, Dignity Health will not require employees to obtain a negative test result in order to return to work. This policy, the memo states, will conserve tests “for those who need it the most.”

Although the Arizona Department of Health Services has not issued a statement on Dignity Health’s memo, the California Department of Public Health issued similar guidance on Jan. 8 to health care companies and providers under its regulation.

California officials call the option of allowing COVID-19 positive employees to work “a temporary tool” which cannot be utilized unless a hospital or emergency services provider has exhausted “all other options.”

“Facilities and providers using this tool, should have asymptomatic COVID-19 positive workers interact only with COVID-19 positive patients to the extent possible,” according to the California announcement.

One hospital administrator told Arizona Daily Independent the new CDC guidance simply allows infected patients to be treated by infected healthcare workers, which is believed to be better than being treated by overwhelmed staff, or no one at all.