A Good Win For Dr Goodwin: NZ Doctor’s Appeal Of Covid Misinformation Suspension Won

The decision from Judge Kevin Kelly of the Wellington District Court, released last week, has seen Dr Alison Goodwin's January 2022 suspension by the Medical Council of New Zealand (MCNZ) reversed. The case, filed on 9 Feb 2022, was heard 16 months later on 28 Jun 2023.

The announcement came last week much to Dr Goodwin's delight, "I am very happy to have this result. It has been a long and arduous couple of years"

In 2021 as the mRNA vaccine rolled out, Dr Goodwin simply adhered to MCNZ’s pre-existing Statement on Informed Consent, rather than its new Guidance Statement. She started speaking about risks, alternatives and uncertainties (as required for true informed consent) since the public messaging was only about purported benefits of the covid vaccine.

As a doctor for over 30 years, most recently a General Practitioner whilst also training in lifestyle medicine, Dr Goodwin provided information, the majority being from official government sources, to interested members of the public both online and at popular public meetings, and encouraged people to look at it.

Information such as :

• Medsafe provisional consent with 58 conditions
• Medsafe Risk Management Plan (RMP)
• Medsafe Comirnaty datasheet
• Document granting Pfizer immunity from liability signed by Grant Robertson of NZ government
• Vitamin D advice from bpac
• HDC Code of Rights - specifically right 7 The Right to make an informed choice and give informed consent and right 7.7 the right to refuse services and to withdraw consent to services
• Lancet retracted study re hydroxychloroquine
• Medsafe Safety Reports documenting increasing numbers of adverse events.

New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science spokesperson, Dr Cindy de Villiers said, "No patient of Dr Goodwin had ever made a complaint against her. Instead, it was members of the public and the medical profession who heard her speak who complained, resulting in suspension of her Annual Practicing Certificate (APC)."

During the preparations for the appeal Dr Curtis Walker (Chairman of the MCNZ) provided an affidavit with more information.

"He provided lists of selected quotations from comments I had made, taken out of context, most of which can be demonstrated to be correct, or which provide my professional opinion, or which were questions intended for discussion", said Dr Goodwin.

"In the correspondence, there were numerous implications and much innuendo that the information I was sharing was inaccurate, not evidence-based, not scientifically grounded, not consensus-driven, unbalanced, selective etc", she said. "However, no concrete examples were given. Dr Walker and the MCNZ did not say ‘this statement is incorrect' nor did they provide any evidence to counter my statements".

"I also asked the MCNZ: What exactly is an ‘anti-vaccination message’? If a doctor doesn’t recommend aspirin to a patient for whom it is not indicated and explains that to the patient, is that an ‘anti-aspirin message’?"

Dr de Villiers said, "We remain disturbed that the MCNZ has fought so hard to silence discussion. Doctors are people too, who have the right to freedom of expression, and we will keep championing this. Right now, however, we are thrilled that Dr Goodwin has won her appeal. 

“It is reassuring that the courts have found again (as in each of our three challenges so far) that the actions of the MCNZ were unlawful. Yet again, they are told that suspending a doctor is not an appropriate response to speech the MCNZ disagrees with,” said Dr de Villiers. 

As legal counsel for Dr Goodwin stated so eloquently: 

"The best response to speech the Medical Council disagrees with is not absolute censorship, but rather for it to have the courage and strength of its convictions. The Medical Council was free to respond in public to Dr Goodwin’s speech and explain, from a position of significant resources, mana and influence, what it considered she had got wrong. By suspending her, the Medical Council has instead created an impression of trying to silence ideas it has no answer to."

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