Vanderbilt puts Dr.Gu on admin leave over taking the knee (probably his fetal cell research, too)
I hadn't seen Dr. Eugene Gu's often very funny responses to 45's tweets lately, and was shocked and disappointed to find out that Vanderbilt Medical Center, where he is a pediatric surgery resident and researcher, had suspended him after a right-winger complained.
http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2018/01/vanderbilt-puts-duke-med-alum-on-leave-after-complaint-about-kneeling-to-protest-white-supremacy
..."He is suing President Donald Trump for blocking him on Twitter. He has been subpoenaed by Congress for his research on fetal tissues. Medicine and activism have been intertwined for him—intended or not.
The now-Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) resident was placed on paid administrative leave for nearly two weeks on Nov. 9. He says it might have to do with a patient’s mother complaining that he took a knee on Twitter to protest white supremacy.
She wrote two public Facebook posts identifying herself as the patient’s mother that kicked Gu out of the room and prevented him from caring for her son because of Gu’s actions. She did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Chronicle.
The third-year resident who has found fame—he has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter—for taking a stand on social issues said that he was removed from the patient’s room after his mother complained.
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The patient’s mother had been cyberbullying him, he said, mentioning online that she was “proud that she kicked [his] ass out of the room.”
“Who would say that fighting against racism would be unprofessional? It’s literally a part of a doctor’s profession to stand up for patients who are most vulnerable,” Gu said. “I find myself in this bizzaro world. I feel like I’m upside down. I’m trying to be a force of social good, and Vanderbilt punishes me for it.”
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The Knight First Amendment Institute filed a complaint on behalf of him and six other Twitter users blocked by President Trump in the Southern District of New York July 11. The group alleged that preventing citizens from accessing his account, a “public forum,” was in violation of the First Amendment.
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Gu’s research certainly has also not been without controversy.
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At Ganogen, he performed the first successful fetal kidney and fetal heart transplants in immunocompromised rats—a project funded by family, friends and small angel investors, he said. The ultimate goal was to help babies with congenital heart and kidney diseases. It would give them a chance to get an organ transplant when there are no available organs for a baby of that size, he said.
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Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) put the subpoena into motion after manipulated videos tried to "make it as though Planned Parenthood employees were selling fetal tissue in violation of federal law.”
Several subsequent investigations found "no evidence of wrongdoing" by Planned Parenthood.
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The Association of American Medical Colleges issued a statement supporting the sort of research Gu was doing, signed by dozens of top medical schools, including Duke and Stanford."
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