ER Doctor Who Criticized Donald Trump’s Dangerous COVID-19 “Drive-By” Says He’s Been Removed From Hospital’s Schedule

An emergency room doctor at Walter Reed Medical Center says he’s been removed from the hospital’s schedule after he criticized Donald Trump on Twitter.

After he tested positive for COVID-19, Trump was admitted to Walter Reed for treatment. At one point during his time there, Trump insisted on leaving his lush, six-room hospital suite to force Secret Service agents to drive him around the block so he could wave at people. It was a gross, selfish move that put those agents and others in direct danger and Dr. James Phillips said so publicly.

“Every single person in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential ‘drive-by’ just now has to be quarantined for 14 days,” Phillips wrote in a since-deleted tweet. “They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity.”

“That Presidential SUV is not only bulletproof, but hermetically sealed against chemical attack. The risk of COVID19 transmission inside is as high as it gets outside of medical procedures. The irresponsibility is astounding. My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.”

Now, nearly three months later, Phillips tweeted that he has worked his final shift at Walter Reed, with the implication being that it was both because of his tweets and also not his decision.

“I will miss the patients and my military and civilian coworkers – they have been overwhelmingly supportive. I’m honored to have worked there and I look forward to new opportunities,” he wrote, adding, “I stand by my words, and I regret nothing.”

Walter Reed officials told CBS News that they didn’t remove Phillips from the schedule and that that would have been the decision of a contractor. That contractor, GW Medical Faculty Associates, told the outlet: “While we cannot comment on the scheduling assignments of our providers, we can confirm that he continues to be employed at the GW Medical Faculty Associates.”

So he’s technically on the schedule but not scheduled for any more shifts. That sounds like a notorious and super cowardly tactic used by a lot of restaurants and bars as a way to fire someone without actually having to actually fire them.

Basically, an ER doctor was (allegedly, reportedly, essentially) fired in the middle of a pandemic that has left hospitals overflowing, all because he tweeted criticism about a prominent political figure putting others in medical danger, and compassion for those tasked with lacing themselves in unnecessary danger.

A lot of people (that prominent political figure included) like to complain about having their freedom of speech trampled every time Twitter flags a tweet for misinformation or whenever they get “cancelled” (i.e. criticized) for saying something inflammatory. I hope those people are at least equally upset right now, in the face of what sure looks like an actual First Amendment violation.

(image: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

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