The Texas Medical Board took “corrective action” against a Houston doctor last month after she prescribed hydroxychloroquine to a patient suffering from COVID-19 without warning them of the possible health complications.
Dr. Stella Immanuel previously told the Houston Chronicle that she had treated “hundreds” of patients with hydroxychloroquine. The drug has not been proven to be effective against COVID-19 and is not FDA-approved to be used as a treatment for the virus.
The Texas Medical Board said Immanuel must now provide proof of informed consent to all patients that she prescribes hydroxychloroquine, which ensures that the patient is aware of potential health risks. She must also “adopt policies that require all consent documents to be reviewed and signed by the patient for off-label treatment.”
Additionally, she will be fined $500, in a board decision that is considered “non-disciplinary.”
Immanuel gained popularity last year among the right for touting hydroxychloroquine as a cure for COVID during a press conference with other fringe doctors on the steps of the Supreme Court.
She describes herself as a “pastor and deliverance minister,” and runs a church, Firepower Ministries, in a strip mall besides her clinic in Houston.
She has stated, among other things, that she attempts to remove spirits and demons from her patients, and has also claimed that many gynecological diseases arise from “demon sperm” transmitted during sex dreams with supernatural beings, according to Newsweek.
In July last year she said in a video that she had treated hundreds of COVID patients with hydroxychloroquine while spreading false claims about COVID 19. That video was retweeted to millions by then president Donald Trump before it was removed from mainstream social media platforms.
