Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Member of Nursing Community Speaks up Against Violence towards Pro-Vaccine Healthcare Workers

I became an advocate of ending healthcare worker violence ever since I heard about Nurse Alex. (Alex Wubbels, is the nurse who was arrested for refusing to let a police officer draw blood from an unconscious patient.)

So, when I came across this statement from Dr. Jim Meehan, an ophthalmologist, and an anti-vaccine advocate, and I was immediately horrified.








I had to speak up. I wrote Dr. Meehan a letter in an attempt to reach out peacefully and ask to discourage violence towards healthcare workers.


Dear Dr. Meehan

Your statement you recently wrote deeply concerned me. I feel the need to speak up.

Please don’t encourage violence towards healthcare workers. Please don’t threaten them. I understand that people get angry when a loved one becomes sick or disabled, but that is no reason to resort to violence or threats.

In light of what happened to Nurse Alex, all the nurses were outraged by her wrongful arrest and assault. They dedicated to defending her and making sure justice was served.

So please don’t incite violence towards healthcare workers. As someone who works in healthcare, please reconsider what you said. They don’t deserve it. I’m sure you wouldn’t like being threatened or assaulted either.

Thank you for listening. Peace be with you.


I have not received a response.

I saw that the blog link was shared on his Twitter page. I asked him kindly about discouraging violence towards healthcare workers. My response was met with a hostile remark:



Kate Doyle: “Please discourage pharmaceutical and medical assault on healthcare workers. Peace be with you.”
Jim Meehan, MD: “Please discourage pharmaceutical and medical assault children. Peace be with you.”


I am disgusted and disappointed that someone who is a healthcare worker seems so disregarding towards this topic. However, I do feel proud that I spoke up about this. I want to encourage all healthcare workers to speak up when someone talks like this, and threatened our fellow colleagues.

By sharing my story, I hope to bring awareness to the fact that there are social media users calling for violence against pro-science and pro-vaccine advocates.

We cannot tolerate this violent threatening behavior, especially when it comes from within our own community.
#silentnomore






Kate Doyle is a member of Nurses Who Vaccinate. She is currently a CNA, studying to be a RN, Army wife, and has two children.


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