2 B.C. doctors went on a COVID-19 speaking tour. Colleagues say their misinformation put public at risk

It was a Tuesday night in Januaryin Terrace, in northwestern B.C., and inside a small community hall, a crowd had gathered for a talk on COVID-19.

The men on stage were Dr. Stephen Malthouse and Dr. Charles Hoffe family doctors in B.C.and the main speakers in a series of events called Doctors on Tour. The speaking tour, in which the twoshare their opinions about the pandemic, public health restrictions and vaccines,has stopped in more than a dozencommunities across the province in December and January.

Both doctors hold active medical licenses and are in good standing, but severalB.C. physicians have filed complaints against them with the provincial College of Physicians and Surgeons, accusing them ofspreading COVID-19 misinformation.

Hoffe, in an open letter last spring postedon the website of the anti-vaccine group Vaccine Choice Canada, claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine is more dangerous than COVID-19 itself.

Malthouse, who is based on Denman Island,has appeared at multiple anti-mask rallies, and what appears to behis signature was allegedly found on a fake vaccine exemption linked to a B.C.-based website offering exemptions. That website is nowunder investigation by theChilliwack RCMP.

But that Tuesday night, Malthouse and Hoffehadthe attention of about 150 people in person, and more online.

"Bonnie Henry is out to kill us all," saidMalthouseas he beganhis presentation, referring to B.C.'s provincial health officer.

The crowd laughed.

'Dual disappointment'

It's a familiar refrain for Vancouver pediatricianAlistair McAlpine, who says he's beenawarehis colleagues have been spreading misinformationonline for months.

McAlpinesays he is one of 13 doctors who filed a complaint against Hoffewith the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.in December 2021. He saysthe college acknowledged it received thecomplaintbut has said nothing more aboutit since.

"It's a sort of dual disappointment,"McAlpine said."Disappointment in my colleagues, but disappointment in the bodies that should be regulating them."

The college has publicly warned physicians against "sharing anti-vaccine, anti-mask, anti-physical distancing and anti-lockdown misinformation" at risk of being disciplined, butMcAlpine and otherssay the warning lacks teeth unless it's backed by swift action.

Details of investigation protected by B.C. privacy laws

Details of any of the college's investigations are protected by B.C. privacy laws.If an investigation results in disciplinary action, information is disclosed to the public and remains on public record, the college saidin a statement to CBC News.

The college would not confirmit's investigating Malthouse or Hoffe, and there is currently no public record of disciplinary measures against them.

However, evidence that the college investigated at least 10 complaintsby fellow physicians againstMalthouseemerged last year in a court filing.

In a petition for judicial reviewfiled in B.C. Supreme Court on June 24, 2021, Malthouse acknowledged thatthe college attempted to reprimand him for making public statements that it said violated professional standards and posed a "risk to the public,"and he asked the court to quash that reprimand.

• Read the court petition

According to thatpetition, the college told him in a May 17, 2021, letter that he would be reprimanded under the Health Professions Act and forbidden from speaking on issues related to COVID-19.

The college did tellCBC it was awareof online videos showing the Doctors on Tourpresentations and that the videos have been passed on to itspractice investigations and complaints department "for further review."

WATCH | Why these 2 doctors promptedcomplaints to College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C.:

B.C. doctors draw crowds with COVID-19 misinformation presentations

3 years ago

Duration 7:30

Two doctors in B.C. have been drawing crowds to presentations where they spout misinformation about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. Other physicians want the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC to take action to stop them.

Malthouse's lawyers argued that the college's attempted action violatedhis right to free speech and had nothing to do with his medical practice but rather with his comments on the government's COVID measures.

The matter is still before the courts.

In Hoffe's case, indications that the college is investigating came last November, when the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, a legal organization that has also defended the organizers of the truck protest in Ottawa, published a letter in which it said it is representing Hoffe as he is being investigated by the college for "allegedly promoting 'vaccine hesitancy.'"

Complaints usually triggerpreliminary review

Malthouse would not comment onthe collegeinvestigation when CBCapproached him inTerrace.

Hoffereplied to questions on the college's investigation into the complaints against him by sayinghe has many patients whodepend on himand that he continues to provide health care for them over the phoneashis family practice burned down in the Lytton fire on June 30.

Any member of the public can make a complaint against a college registrant. Each complaint triggers a preliminary review before the college contactsthe physician underinvestigation for a response,according to the college website.

The Health Professions Act does empower college inquiry committees to take interim action while an investigation is ongoingby imposing restrictions or suspending a doctor's registration.But that can only be used as an "extraordinary remedy," says the college, "to protect the public based on a real risk."

McAlpine says he acknowledges the college hasprotocols to follow,but he says potentially dangerous theories and misinformation being circulated during a pandemic mustqualifyas a risk to the public.

"If this isn't an extraordinary time and if these doctors are not directly placing the public at risk, then I don't know what is," he said.

"The fundamental mandate of the college is to protect the public, and in my opinion, they're simply not doing that."

'Hearing both sides'

Thespeaking touris promoted by a group founded last year calledFrontLine Canada, which purports on its website to represent"frontline workers who were being forced to inject the experimental COVID'vaccination.'"

It made stops in14 townsin B.C.duringDecember and January, predominantly in rural communities in the Interior and northwest. Towns such asTerrace havea vaccinationrate as high as B.C.'s average, with 85 per cent of those over the age of 12vaccinated with two doses, according to the B.C. Centre for Disease Control regional surveillance dashboard.

CBC News attended two of the Doctorson Tour talks in Terraceand spoke to several audience members.

Paula Morrison used to work with people with disabilitiesin Terrace before she lost her job last October when it became mandatory for B.C. health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Shesat through the doctors'three-hour presentation andcalledthetalk"excellent"and "informative." She saidsome people gravitate towardthe doctors because they're unsure about getting vaccinated.

Lauralee Davis brought her 13-year-old daughter. She says her family has had COVID-19, but they "came out fine" anddon't want to get the vaccine.She, like others in attendance, talked about the importance of "hearing both sides" and learning about "alternative treatments"forthe virus.

"I think we all need to know what we're doing when we make our medical choices and how it might affect us or might not," Davis said.

'An impact on beliefs and behaviours'

Tim Caulfied, a law professor at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and Canada Research Chair in Health, Law and Policy, who is known for debunking pseudoscience, watched an online presentation by the doctors in Terrace.

He saidseveral of the claimsin the presentation were wrong, such as whenMalthousetoldthe audience thativermectin, an antiparasitic agent, couldhelp prevent and treat COVID-19.

There is no good evidence to support thatclaim, saidCaulfield,who specializes in medical misinformation.

"If ivermectinreally was as effective as these people suggest, we would know," he said. "We would have the clinical data to back it up, and it just doesn't exist right now."

Health Canada has issued warnings against using ivermectin and says there's no clinical evidence to suggest it prevents or treats COVID-19. The agency also notes thatthere have been cases of people ingestinghigh concentrations of a veterinary version of the product, intended for horses, which can cause serious health problems, includingvomiting, diarrhea,dizzinessand even death.

Caulfied says he can see why people could be misled by a "convincing" presentation by two registered physicianswho emphasize a small set of data to support their arguments while ignoring the large body of evidence to the contrary.

Presenting data in this way can have a significantimpact on people who may be weighing the risks and benefits of getting the vaccine for themselves or for a member of their family, says Caulfied.

"We know this is dangerous," he said.

"We know that misinformation can have an impact on beliefs and behaviours."

Claims about vaccine harm prompted complaint

Among the claims made by Malthouseat the Terrace event was that the ingredients of the vaccines approved for use in Canada are unknown.Ingredients for all authorized vaccines in Canada arelistedon the government's public health website.

Anotherclaim, this one made by Hoffe, is that a third dose of a COVID-19vaccine actually makes the virus's symptoms worse when someone is infected than if someone hadn't been vaccinated at all.

That flies in the face of widespreadvaccine monitoring across the countryand is what prompted McAlpine andothers to ask the college to take urgent action against Hoffe.

Courts are a long shot, lawyer says

McAlpine says the mechanisms of professional oversight are outdated and inappropriatein light of social media and afast-moving public health emergency.He says he and other colleagues are looking at ways to hold the college to account.

"Who guards the guardians? Who monitors the guardians when the guardians are asleep at the wheel?"

Courts might be one option, but that's a long shot, according to Danny Kastner, an employment lawyer at Kastner Lam LLP in Toronto.

"Those processes are long; they're expensive; they're challenging," he said. "The court does not lightly interfere with the internal regulatory workings of these colleges."

In interviews, both doctors denied they are deceiving people and say their claimsare based on research they found.Informed medical decisions, such asgetting the vaccine, cannot be made through "censored" media, said Malthouse.

"I will never deceive people," said Hoffe. "I do what I do because I love my patients."