Florida doctor fired ‘after selling notes to opt-out of mask-wearing for $50’

A Florida doctor has been dismissed after it was alleged he was selling $50 ‘opt-out’ notes to help children skip the county’s mask-wearing mandate.

According to the Tallahassee Democrat, Dr Brian Warden, a physician at Capital Regional Medical Center, posted an advertisement on an anti-mask group that invited Leon County parents to get in contact if they wanted a medical exemption letter. In a separate post, Dr Warden offered $50 signed opt-out letters.

This comes days after Leon County schools implemented a stricter mask-wearing mandate following a surge in cases in the area and the death of an elementary school student.

Screenshots of the post circulated online and riled up social media users who pushed for his dismissal. One suggested to “Pull his license.”

“This is reckless behaviour with possible fatal consequences”, they added.

While another alleged: “Some unethical doctors in California are charging up to $500 to write medical exemptions for students whose parents don’t want them to take Tdap and other required vaccinations. The list of offending doctors is over 90 pages long.”

A spokeswoman for the hospital has since spoken out. In an email, Rachel Stiles wrote: “We act with absolute integrity in all that we do, and it is our expectation that providers behave in a way that is consistent with those values.”

“Immediately upon learning of this physician’s actions, we began the process of removing him from providing services to our hospital patients.”

While Dr Warden confirmed he was a licensed professional in his posts, he highlighted that he was not signing the letters on behalf of any hospital, according to Tallahassee Democrat.

indy100 has reached out to Dr Warden for comment.