According to a new report, Dr. James Phillips will no longer be employed at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center beginning next year.
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CBS News reported Phillips has been removed from the schedule beginning in January 2021, according to sources close to the situation. The news outlet stated the emergency room doctor is chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University and works on a contract basis for Walter Reed.
The doctor publicly criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to exit the facility and ride in a motorcade around the grounds of the facility after his COVID-19 diagnosis. According to CBS, Phillips shared a now-deleted tweet that called the behavior “insanity.”
“Every single person…in the vehicle during that completely unnecessary Presidential “drive-by” just now has to be quarantined for 14 days. They might get sick. They may die. For political theater. Commanded by Trump to put their lives at risk for theater. This is insanity,” the tweet said.
Walter Reed officials deny that Dr. Phillip’s exit is in response to the Twitter statement. A spokesperson informed CBS News that the hospital “provides requirements for contract positions. Schedules are determined by the contractor. There was no decision made by anyone at WRNMMC to remove Dr. Phillips from the schedule.”
Lisa Anderson, the assistant director of media relations at George Washington University School of Medicine informed the outlet that Phillips is still on staff at GWU Hospital in downtown Washington D.C.
“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,” Anderson said.
As theGrio reported both doctors and non-medical staff at Walter Reed were asked by POTUS to sign an NDA before they could treat him while hospitalized in 2019. Two doctors declined to sign the document so they were not included on Trump’s treatment team.
“Any physician caring for the President is bound by patient-physician confidentiality guaranteed under HIPAA, and I’m not going to comment on internal procedures beyond that,” said White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere, according to the report.
Dr. Phillips appeared on CNN International to share his experience as a frontline worker treating patients with COVID-19.
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“This is a unique situation. For me, I’ve been lucky that I’ve had a public health platform through the media to be able to talk and try to educate the general public about how to stay safe,” he remarked. “It does at times feel like screaming into a void when half the people you’re trying to speak to don’t want to listen and think you’re a liar and the president calls you a fraud.”
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