A B.C. doctor is suing Interior Health, claiming he was wrongfully suspended for bringing up vaccination concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The civil claim by Dr. Charles Hoffe, who says he was an emergency room doctor and a family physician, was filed in Kelowna Supreme Court on Monday, April 24.
The 12-page document ultimately seeks damages for lost earnings, punitive damages and special damages from what Hoffe claims was a wrongful suspension. The Lytton resident is known for having an anti-vaccination stance.
It states that Hoffe had a contract with IHA to perform medical services at St. Bartholomew Hospital Centre (SBHC) in Lytton, and that he “faithfully and diligently performed his duties pursuant to the contract,” along with proving “himself to be valuable and reliable for over 28 years.”
However, when the province rolled out its COVID-19 vaccine program in January 2021, Hoffe said he sent out emails to his colleagues two months later, urging them to consider whether it was safe to participate in the vaccine rollout.
Hoffe said that IHA responded to his March 16 email, with one executive doctor saying “Dr. Hoffe was causing ‘vaccine hesitancy,’ which he viewed as a patient safety issue.”
Hoffe said he was concerned about vaccine safety, and was bound as a medical practitioner to bring this information to the attention of his colleagues.
That executive doctor told Hoffe he should direct his vaccine concerns to Interior Health, “rather than his colleagues.”
Hoffe said an IHA medical health officer (MHO) contacted him on March 19 and provided a link to generic information about COVID-19 vaccines.
From March 28 to April 4, Hoffe said he informed the executive doctor and the MHO about patients he had seen who were “experiencing serious complications which they attributed to having recently received their COVID-19 vaccination.”
On April 7, after hearing no reply from IHA, he drafted an open letter to provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, but he never received a direct reply, though the BC Centre for Disease Control emailed him and arranged a telephone meeting on April 13.
According to the civil claim, that meeting accomplished nothing.
On April 21, Hoffe said he emailed IHA again, stating “he now had seven patients with neurological side effects that have persisted for three months post-Moderna vaccination.”
One week after that, on April 29, Hoffe claims he received calls from Dr. Curtis Bell and Dr. Mike Ertel, both of Interior Health, informing him that his privileges at the hospital had been summarily suspended with immediate effect.
“Interior Health asserted that Dr. Hoffe’s alleged actions raised serious patient safety concerns, having the effect of creating vaccine hesitancy and corresponding low vaccination rates during a pandemic, in a community with highly vulnerable patients,” reads the civil claim.
Two investigations then followed, with months rolling by when the province issued a measure saying unvaccinated staff and doctors would no longer be allowed to work in care locations.
“The order has been amended a number of times since its inception, most recently on Sept. 12, 2022, and remains in effect,” reads the civil claim.
It also says “the suspension of Dr. Hoffe’s privileges at SHBC was based upon false allegations, that even if they were true, do not justify suspension.”
Hoffe is known to have opposed COVID-19 health-related measures. He spoke out at an event in Kelowna on Dec. 13, 2021.
He was also investigated by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., for publicly expressing that Ivermectin is an advisable treatment for COVID-19, and that COVD-19 vaccinations cause microscopic blood clots that cause serious neurological harm, female infertility and a high number of deaths that is not recognized by public health.
However, Hoffe’s hearing has been adjourned. Global News has reached out to CPSBC regarding the adjournment.
On Wednesday, CPSBC told Global News that the hearing will be rescheduled.
Contacted by Global News for comment, Interior Health said “it would be inappropriate for Interior Health to speak to a matter that is before the courts.”