Privacy threat? Doctor says Minnesota medical board seeks records of patients given Ivermectin

Dr. Scott Jensen, a veteran Minnesota family physician locked in a protracted dispute with state regulators over COVID-19, is raising alarm that the state medical board is now seeking the records of his patients who were prescribed Ivermectin.

Jensen, who has faced five licensing investigations in 17 months, told Just the News the latest request is "crossing a line" and invades the medical privacy of patients.

“If the Board of Medical Practice gets documentation for me … I think there's a lot of folks out there that are concerned that their health privacy would not have been protected, and that indeed they can be identified,” he said in an interview. 

Jensen said he believes the inquiries from the board are political, and his constant disputes have spurred him to run as a Republican candidate for Minnesota governor.

“I think what's happening is the Board of Medical Practice has been weaponized for political purposes by people who don't agree with my positions politically,” he said.

“I think people are clamoring to try to make my life miserable professionally, and they're either on a mission of vengeance for themselves because they're frustrated, or they're hoping that by persisting against me, they'll get me to shut up and take my baseball bat and glove and go home.”

The Minnesota Board of Medical Practice did not reply to Just the News’ request to comment.

Jensen first publicized the Ivermectin records request in a video published Christmas Eve on Facebook

In the video, Jensen read the board’s letter to him, which said, “In your response, you indicated that you’ve prescribed Ivermectin to some of your patients for treatment of COVID-19. Pursuant to the board’s investigation of this matter, please provide the following records … copies of medical records for the most recent three to five patients to whom you’ve prescribed Ivermectin to treat COVID-19.”

Additionally, he noted the board cited Subdivision 3 of the Minnesota Physician Accountability Act, which states, “The board shall have access to hospital and medical records of a patient treated by the physician under review if the patient signs a written consent permitting such access. If no consent form has been signed, the hospital or physician shall first delete data in the record which identifies the patient before providing it to the board.”

Jensen said the pandemic and his protracted dispute with the medical board fueled a decision by he and his wife Mary to run for political office. 

“The Board of Medical Practice –– and people really do weaponize the board –– was sort of the final straw for Mary and I,” Jensen explained. “We just said, ‘You're not going to do this to us. This is not America.’”

Ivermectin, a common anti-parasite drug, has stirred controversy during the pandemic. Some studies suggest it could help patients battle COVID though U.S. authorities in many states have opposed its use in treating COVID-19, warning it is unproven for the virus and could be dangerous to some if administered incorrectly.

But in recent weeks several judges have ordered hospitals in places like Illinois and Virginia to administer Ivermectin to critically sick COVID patients. One, an elderly man in Naperville, Ill., who had been placed on a ventilator recovered within days of the court-ordered treatment.

The man's lawyer recently urged the medical profession to re-evaluate Ivermectin as a possible treatment. "There are obviously remedies that we're not looking at," attorney Kristin Erickson told Just the News. "And we need to think outside of the current standard of care.