Florida ER doctor fired after offering to write mask medical exemption letters for $50

An emergency room doctor in Tallahassee, Fla., was fired after he offered on social media to charge $50 for parents seeking mask medical exemption letters for their children in school.

On Sunday, the superintendent for Leon County schools, where Tallahassee is located, announced a mask mandate for students in K-8 grades unless they have a medical exemption, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. The school board voted in favor of the superintendent's decision, even though Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has warned that school districts violating his ban on mask mandates and not providing parents with the ability to opt-out will face financial consequences.

Dr. Brian Warden, who worked for a physicians group that contracted with Capital Regional Medical Center (CMRC), posted on a Florida anti-mask site that Leon County parents could contact him for a mask medical exemption letter, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. Another post he wrote said that he would provide such letters on signed stationery for $50.

Warden's posts were shared on social media, with people calling for him to be reported to the Florida Board of Medicine. The hospital group soon fired him.

"We act with absolute integrity in all that we do, and it is our expectation that providers behave in a way that is consistent with those values," CRMC spokeswoman Rachel Stiles told Tallahassee Democrat. "Immediately upon learning of this physician's actions, we began the process of removing him from providing services to our hospital patients."