Maine Medical Boards of Licensure: Exposed – Part II

By: Ronda Snyder

This is Part II of a 3-part series showing the lengths as well as the legal and mental gymnastics to which Maine Medical Boards of Licensure will go to in order to ensure disciplinary action against at least three doctors in Maine who did not follow the undefined yet somehow prescribed Covid narrative. You can read Part I HERE. As of the writing of this article, attorneys for Dr. Paul Gosselin have indicated Peter Michaud has refused to recuse himself from the proceedings against Gosselin.

Here’s a brief recap. Four complaints were filed against Dr. Gosselin (article feature photo). None of which were from patients but rather other healthcare professionals who heard the information at least second hand. The original complaints were regarding writing Covid Vaccine Exemption letters for several healthcare professionals; for disseminating “misinformation” (still undefined) about Covid; and, promoting the use of medications not deemed appropriate for the treatment of Covid 19. Remember these reasons because the Osteopathic Board of Medical Licensure, certainly seems to over step its bounds in this investigation with unfettered power to enact a witch hunt against doctors who don’t follow the prescribed Covid narrative no matter.

Set forth below is a photo from the transcript of the Osteopathic Licensing Board’s November 18, 2021 meeting at which members voted to suspend Dr. Gosselin’s medical license on an emergency basis. The person speaking is Dr. James Pisini, Co-Chair of the Osteopathic Licensing Board. Notice the vague language in Dr. Pisini’s recounting of the complaints.

Next the Board discusses CDC guidance about an exemption. UBM is an Unidentified Board Member and UF is Unidentified Female. They discuss that the only reason for a medical exemption is severe anaphylactic reaction to the first shot. So basically, someone has to take the first shot and become seriously ill or die from anaphylaxis before an exemption is allowed according to the Osteopathic Board of Licensure.

It’s interesting to note that when Public Board Member, Peter Michaud, testified in March 2019 regarding LD 798 and a doctor’s ability to write medical exemptions for vaccines, he testified that “Physicians may write simply, in my medical opinion child X should be immunized for disease or for any disease because it’s medically inadvisable. That’s good enough.” (emphasis added). One has to ask why are Michaud and other members of the board relying on CDC guidance rather than Maine law regarding medical exemptions? Isn’t Dr. Gosselin’s medical opinion “good enough” to write a medical exemption for a Covid vaccine? Michaud testified it was good enough in 2019 when he was working to get LD 798 passed. Why the double standard and when it comes to the Covid vaccine?

Unidentified Male Board Member (UMBM) asks Assistant Attorney General, Lisa Wilson (LW) whether the Board can do two things simultaneously. One is to charge Gosselin with unprofessional conduct and send him a cease and desist letter from “giving false information and inconsistent advice.” Remember, the Board has never defined the term false information or misinformation. Also, no patient made a complaint regarding treatment for Covid by Dr. Gosselin. AAG Lisa Wilson explains the Board cannot issue a cease and desist letter.

The Board remains determined to stop Dr. Gosselin giving his medical opinions regarding Covid and Covid treatment. An Unidentified Female (UF) reminds the board “that’s over. He’s not writing anymore of those letters.” Yet the Board seems determined to make an example out of Dr. Gosselin for not following the prescribed yet ill-defined Covid narrative.

The Unidentified Male Board Member (UMBM) admits they are “closing the barn door after, you, know, the animals have left.” The same UMBM showed the hubris that leads to approximately 250,000 deaths per year in the United States from medical malpractice and/or negligence. This UMBM seems to think that there is an “ignorance to medicine” if one has a different medical opinion than that of an “all knowing doctor” then they are ignorant to medicine. What’s interesting about this statement is that health professionals with this mindset blindly followed CDC guidance during the pandemic even though much of what we were told by the CDC about the virus now turns out to be incorrect. Many folks called those who held a different opinion about Covid and treatments “Covidiots.” It turns out that many of those who questioned the Covid narrative and treatment protocols did their own research, formed their own opinions and turned out to be “Covgintelligent” instead.

AAG Lisa Wilson reminds the Board members that employers (healthcare facilities) sent the Board copies of Dr. Gosselin’s exemption letters. Public Board Member Peter Michaud (PM) asks “what’s the easiest way to stop him from issuing any other further statement, uh, letter, uh so on, that could endanger people in the future? How can we do that?” Again, the Peter Michaud testifying in the video above about it being a doctor’s best medical judgment to write a medical exemption is a much different Peter Michaud than the one in this Board meeting who wants to vilify Dr. Gosselin for writing vaccine exemption letters. Will the real Peter Michaud please stand up?

I asked you to recall the original complaints against Dr. Gosselin at the beginning of this article which concerned writing Covid vaccine medical exemption letters, disseminating misinformation and promoting use of medications not deemed appropriate for the treatment of Covid 19. The last complaint from the Board regarding treatment of Covid 19 is particularly interesting because according to Becker Hospital Review, “More than half of all US states have either enacted legislation or proposed legislation to promote access to Ivermectin. 28 states have bills that would either restrict medical boards’ authority to discipline clinicians who prescribe the ‘unproven’ Covid treatment, allow off-label use of the medication or both…The legislation reflects growing political pressure to restrict boards’ authority to penalize physicians over health misinformation.

Based on these complaints AAG Wilson turns the complaints into grounds for suspension. The Unidentified Male (UM) in the November 18, 2021, Board Meeting seems concerned about protecting the Board’s action to support their goals. Based on Maine Journal News’ research into the actions of the Board, he should be concerned about the Board’s actions.

The final grounds noted in the Notice of Suspension of Dr. Gosselin’s medical license were: fraud or deceit, incompetence and unprofessional conduct. Read on to information about the Boards’ own conduct during this investigation. Folks may be shocked to learn how much unfettered power the Boards of Licensure have and how they use it to attain their disciplinary goals.

Boards of Medical Licensure serve an important role. For example, if a doctor was inappropriately touching children under their care, then surely that is a complaint, we all agree the Board should investigate and rightly so. This isn’t the case with Dr. Paul Gosselin. Dr. Gosselin was charged with fraud or deceit, incompetence and unprofessional conduct for daring not to have the same medical opinion as other doctors and these healthcare professionals reported Dr. Gosselin for his independent thoughts and his own research into Covid 19 and treatments therefore.

According to Maine Law, the Medical Boards of Licensure have broad subpoena powers and the Board’s Executive Secretary is the signatory on these subpoenas. During the November 18, 2021, an Unidentified Female Board Member (UFBM) asks about getting more information on prescribing practices for Covid treatment with Ivermectin. An Unidentified Male (UM) first brings up the PMP (Prescription Monitoring Program). Peter Michaud chimes in “I believe we could subpoena records concerning the prescription of any particular drug.” (Emphasis added).

What exactly is the PMP? PMP stands for Prescription Monitoring Program. However, it relates to OPIOID prescriptions which has nothing to do with the original complaints against Dr. Gosselin and Covid 19 related matters.

On February 9, 2022, the Osteopathic Licensing Board issued a subpoena, signed by its Executive Secretary, to Dr. Gosselin for medical records of 12 patients. These 12 patients were not part of the original Covid related complaints against Dr. Gosselin. Dr. Gosselin’s attorneys advised him not to comply with this subpoena and filed legal documents regarding this subpoena.

Dr. Meryl Nass indicated to Maine Journal News that she received a similar subpoena from the Licensing Board which oversees MD’s and Physician’s Assistants. This is other Board of Licensure that oversees medical licensing along with the Osteopathic Licensing board for doctors with a DO degree which is the Board investigating Dr. Gosselin. Dr. Nass told MJN that the only way the Board of Licensure could have obtained the patients’ names listed on her subpoena is if the Board combed through the patients listed in the PMP to determine which were her patients.

MJN had happened to have previous contact with a patient listed on Dr. Gosselin’s subpoena and who had helped MJN with some background information on a story, so we reached out to that patient. We’ll call this patient “Pat” to protect the patient’s privacy. Pat told MJN that he/she/they saw Dr. Gosselin for several health issues and because a previous physician was over prescribing opioids to Pat. Dr. Gosselin, among treatment of other issues, was assisting Pat in lowering the opioid dosage to the minimum amount required to deal with Pat’s chronic pain issues. Pat’s name could only have been obtained by using the PMP database for opioid prescriptions. Pat did not see Dr. Gosselin for Covid related issues, did not receive a medical exemption from Dr. Gosselin or file a complaint against Dr. Gosselin. However, the Board seemed intent on continuing its overreaching investigation of Dr. Gosselin. Pat was told MJN that he/she/they were furious and had severe anxiety over being dragged into the Board’s investigation regarding Covid matters. Pat also felt as though the Board was violating his/her/they privacy by subpoenaing private medical records and seemingly using the PMP to do so.

Two other people who simply met with Dr. Gosselin, a husband and wife, were visited by a Detective Investigator for the Maine Attorney General’s Office after a complaint from…you guessed it…another medical professional who thought Dr. Gosselin was practicing medicine after the suspension of his license. The report given to the Board about these individuals was inconsistent with their statements to the detective which forced the one of the two individuals to write and sign an Affidavit to set the record straight about their interaction with Dr. Gosselin.

Set forth below is the Complaint from the healthcare professional (presumably a doctor) against Dr. Gosselin. The redacted (black) portions were made by the Board of Licensure to protect the the privacy of the the Complainant’s patients as well as the anonymous Complainant. Please note, this presumed doctor, did not tell his or her patients that he or she was filing the Complaint against Dr. Gosselin based on private conversations between the healthcare provider and the patients. Most folks would likely see this as a betrayal of trust in the doctor/patient relationship especially when the patients of this healthcare provider refute the allegations contained in the Complaint.

The patient’s affidavit completely contradicts this presumed doctor’s complaint. The patient declared under the pains and penalties of perjury:

• They knew when they met with Dr. Gosselin in January 2022 that his license was suspended in November 2021;
• They did not seek medical treatment of any kind from Paul (Dr. Gosselin) nor did Dr. Gosselin offer to treat them in any way;
• They discussed Covid-19 but in very general terms and it was the type of conversation about Covid-19 that they have often had with medical and non-medical people alike.
• They did not pay Dr. Gosselin for his time
• They did not ask for and Dr. Gosselin did not prescribe or provide them with Ivermectin, Hydroxychloroquine or any other medications.
• They additionally state that the anonymous complaint had numerous other material errors.

Set forth below is a list of the current Board members of the Osteopathic Licensing Board who are responsible for the suspension of Doctor Gosselin’s medical license. You will note that there is a vacancy for a Public Member of the Licensing Board. If you or someone you know would be a good candidate who could be a voice of reason within the Board, you can apply for appointment for this Board by following this LINK.

In summary, complaints from healthcare professionals (and NOT from patients) for the undefined “misinformation,” writing medical exemptions and early treatment of Covid have been turned into charges of fraud or deceit, incompetence and unprofessional conduct by the Maine Board of Osteopathic Licensure. The Board knew that Dr. Gosselin wouldn’t be writing additional exemptions because as one member said its akin to “closing the barn door after, you, know, the animals have left.” Board Member Peter Michaud was adamant that Dr. Gosselin had to be “stopped” but stopped from what? Having a different medical opinion? Patients ask for and receive second opinions all the time. The Board, according to Dr. Nass and Maine Journal News’ own discussions with a patient listed on the February 9, 2022, subpoena for medical records seem to indicate that the Boards used the Prescription Monitoring Program database for OPIOID prescriptions to identify patients of Dr. Gosselin and Dr. Nass to further their own goals while these patients had zero connection to the original complaints upon which Dr. Gosselin’s medical license was suspended. An attendee of the November 18, 2021 Board meeting wanted to ensure the Board’s actions to support their goal would be protected.

We imagine that many of you didn’t know the unfettered power the Boards of Licensure have in Maine. We imagine that you didn’t know your medical records could be subpoenaed by an Executive Secretary of the Board in an action against a doctor and the reasons for which you saw that doctor had nothing whatsoever to do with the claims in the original complaint. We imagine that you didn’t know the fervent goals of the Boards of Licensure to suspend a doctor’s medical license would be based on subjective and undefined terms such as “misinformation.”

Dr. Gosselin’s hearing with the Osteopathic Medical Board of Licensure is April 14, 2022. It is unknown whether this meeting will be held by zoom or in person. Dr. Gosselin’s attorneys maintain this is a bad faith prosecution of Dr. Gosselin. More on that claim in Part III of this series.

As always, thank you for reading Maine Journal News. You can follow or LIKE us on Facebook (should Facebook decide to allow a LIKE button to appear…tis a fickle thing that is): www.facebook.com/mainejournalnews. Please continue to email us story ideas, tips and screenshots at mainejournalnews@gmail.com or rsnyder@mainejournalnews.com.

As a final note: We are a completely self-funded independent organization. As MJN grows, we have more and more expenses, for websites, equipment (we just got some new mics so our live videos are easier to hear, for example), software, travel expenses, etc. so please consider donating to keep us doing what we’ve been doing here at MJN. Please note: MJN is not 501(c)(3) organization. As such, your donations are not tax deductible. No services or products will be rendered to you in exchange for your donation. We have two ways for you to donate so that we can bring you more content like the story above:

By Venmo: @MJN207

By PayPal: Donate (paypal.com)

Thank you for your continued support of independent journalism. Unlike local media, we consider all of you part of MJN and value your comments, emails and messages. We couldn’t do what we do without you.