A couple of years ago, as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, a Cleveland physician made her way into the House Health Committee where she told state lawmakers that COVID-19 vaccines magnetize their hosts and “interface” with cell towers.

The physician, Sherri Tenpenny, was widely (and understandably) ridiculed for these comments, which initiated a swarm of 350 complaints to the State Medical Board and triggered a chain of events that led to regulators indefinitely suspending her medical license Wednesday, cleveland.com reports.

The board’s biggest responsibility is protecting the public and overseeing the licensure of Ohio doctors, and it yanked Tenpenny’s license on procedural grounds that aren’t related to the anti-vaxxer activist’s comments. Instead, board staffers found she refuted investigators who came to visit, declined to answer written questions, and completely objected to inquiries by regulators.

“Dr. Tenpenny, neither you nor any doctor licensed by the board is above the law, and you must comply with the investigation,” said Dr. Jonathan Feibel, an orthopedic surgeon and member of the medical board. “You have not done so, and therefore, until you do, your license will be suspended.”

Pain management specialist Dr. Amol Soin is also a board member and at the hearing, he said Tenpenny’s suspension has nothing to do with vaccines, magnets, or cell towers, but is instead about the board’s duty to oversee the conduct of physicians and the physician’s responsibility to comply.

“The license to practice medicine is not a right. It‘s a privilege. A privilege that is earned, and a privilege that you have to uphold,” Soin said. “And as you get that license, and as you obtain that privilege, you consent to certain reasonable things. And a reasonable thing you consent to… is to cooperate when someone complains about you. In this case, 350 complaints. It is a very reasonable thing to cooperate in that scenario.”

Medical boards across the country have been struggling with the issue of how to address doctors who make fringe claims about vaccines when health emergencies arise. And now, some organizations, like the public health policy advocates at de Beaumont Foundation are demanding stricter and swifter recourse.

Board members made it clear that Tenpenny’s punishment is connected to the procedural issues and not her outlandish health claims and the staff emphasized the basis for the inquiry in their formal report. They asked Tenpenny what evidence she has that vaccines turn people magnetic or interface with cell towers. They also wanted more information about her claim that major metro areas are “liquefying dead bodies and pouring them into the water supply.”

Tenpenny’s attorney, Tom Renz, made a last-minute effort to discourage board members from removing her license while a crowd of roughly 40 supporters sat through the typically uneventful administrative hearings. He painted the investigation as a form of “harassment” of her “free speech rights,” claiming her civil rights were being violated.

Renz also said the board was making its decision without showing instances of harm or fraud to a patient.

“This appears very much like a lynch mob,” he said.

Tenpenny also declined to answer any questions following the hearing.

I think it’s good that the board slapped her down. Her “findings” sound cockamamie but I also understand some folks’ apprehensions about the vaccine. My sister received hers and suffered a blood clot in her thigh and had to have surgery.

So I get it. These vaccines aren’t a walk in the park. But they are necessary, especially as a new variant, COVID-19.5, nicknamed “Eris” is spreading quickly in the U.S. and other countries, Politico reports. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of concern about this but it bears watching.

Tenpenny originally got herself in trouble after Ohio House Rep. Jennifer Gross, a GOPer in West Chester invited her to speak to lawmakers in support of Gross’s legislation to block schools, hospitals, governments, and other agencies from imposing vaccine requirements. This was in June 2021, when COVID-19 vaccines were becoming scarce as health officials continued to convince hundreds of millions of Americans to take the vaccines. But conservatives, as per usual sought to undermine this campaign by frequently arguing about “medical freedom.”

As she spoke to a crowd of anti-vaxxers, Tenpenny brought the crazy.

“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots and now they’re magnetized,” she told a panel of lawmakers.

“They can put a key on their forehead and it sticks … There have been people who have long suspected there’s an interface, yet to be defined, an interface between what’s being injected in these shots and all of the 5G towers.

Well let me tell you, those comments went kersplat and Gross’s bill stalled in the aftermath of her crazy remarks. And those comments are what spurred the investigation that would ultimately cost Tenpenny her license.

What a nutjob this woman is. I hope her license isn’t reinstated. Yes, the vaccines come with a few problems but they were the only things separating millions of Americans from a deadly virus. Her conduct was irresponsible in the face of a worldwide pandemic.