WEEKLY ROUNDUP FOR THE WEEK OF September 19
Division III:
First amendment – The First Amendment allows a substantial amount of speech regulation within the physician-patient relationship but does not allow similar regulation of the doctor’s speech on the doctor’s public blog without a compelling interest. Here, the state did not violate the doctor’s First Amendment rights when it disciplined him for telling his patients to take Ivermectin and nebulized hydrogen peroxide for COVID-19. But the state violated the doctor’s First Amendment rights when it disciplined him for making similar statements on his public blog, because the state did not have a compelling interest in preventing the speech, and had not shown harm resulting from the Doctor’s blog posts. Wilkinson v. Washington Medical Commission, No. 40061-1-III (Sept. 16, 2025).