Ontario doctor leaving practice after unfounded claims she denied care to unvaccinated patients
CBC
The only full-time family physician in a small northern Ontario town says she feels personally attacked after a spate of COVID-19 misinformation and anti-vaccination sentiment set off by a town councillor.
Dr. Gretchen Roedde, 69, says, as a result, she plans to close her practice in Latchford on March 31.
Latchford Mayor George Lefebvre says Coun. Scott Green made a mistake when he wrote a Facebook post claiming Roedde wasn't seeing unvaccinated patients.
Lefebvre says the post was unwarranted and unleashed criticism and anger against the doctor on social media.
"It became very nasty. People should not use social media to express their concerns," said Lefebvre.
Green says he put letters of apology in 300 mailboxes in Latchford — a town of some 300 people, 130 kilometres northeast of Sudbury — but won't say what he wrote in them.
He says he wants to move on and avoid stirring up another storm of controversy.
As for Roedde, she says she doesn't want to dwell on the councillor's remarks but does want to wrap up her stint in Latchford earlier than planned.
She says she has provided care, and made accommodations for, her unvaccinated patients.
"We had said if people are not vaccinated, we would look at alternatives," said Roedde.
"We would do phone [calls], when we could. We've had people come at the end of the day, like I had a new mom who wasn't vaccinated. We had her at the very end of the day, we sort of wiped down everything. This is for the protection of the unvaccinated, as well as for the protection of other patients that come in."
She says she's also seen unvaccinated patients outside in the clinic's parking lot and has been making house calls to unvaccinated seniors and those who have tested positive.
"I have had a very sick man with COVID. He was a staunch anti-vaxxer. He got quite sick. I've been looking after him at home for 12 days of his illness, and then his oxygen level suddenly dropped. So I was seeing him yesterday. We arranged for him to transfer by ambulance to the hospital where he's now in intensive care."
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