In a short interview at the meeting, PHD spokesperson Katherine Hoyer expressed some uncertainty about what substantive differences, precisely, the measure would offer over what’s already taking place in clinics. “What they’re proposing is that we provide patients with information on medical practices and vaccines,” she said. “That is happening.”
Fletcher sees opportunities ahead. In July, the board unanimously reelected him as chair. And, he said, he has a new ally in the push for an informed consent policy. Jessica Jameson, one of the board members who opposed the measure, recently resigned. Fletcher described her successor, a naturopathic doctor who was appointed to the board last month, as aligned with the MAHA movement. That brings the total MAHA-aligned members, by his count, to four — securing a majority on the seven-member board. “My plan is unfolding just as I wanted,” he said during a call in late July.
During an earlier conversation, Fletcher had reflected on the strange position of RFK Jr., who is perched atop the Department of Health and Human Services, which is staffed by many of the people he spent his career opposing. “He has hundreds of thousands of employees; 99.99 percent of them think he’s full of shit,” Fletcher said. Fletcher, in some ways, has his own miniature version of that problem: An antagonist of institutional public health, overseeing a public health organization.
The precise informed consent measure, he acknowledged, may not come to pass. But the debate itself has merit, he said: “Even if we lose, whatever lose means, even if we don’t make any positive forward motion — you never know. Every time you talk about this, you maybe change someone’s sentiment. You maybe move things forward a little bit. Which is why I do it.”
Fletcher’s role is small. But, he suggested, added together, the cumulative efforts of local politicking could amount to a revolution. “Robert Kennedy needs as many people putting their oar in the water and stroking in the same direction,” Fletcher said. “He can’t do it alone. So if there are 10,000 Thomas Fletchers out there, all going in the same direction, then maybe we can have hope.”
Rajah Bose contributed reporting from Idaho.
This article was originally published on Undark. Read the original article.
