ALLEGATIONS OF PROFESSIONAL misconduct have been upheld by a fitness-to-practice inquiry in relation to a HSE physiotherapist who spread false claims about Covid-19 vaccines and the use of masks during the pandemic.
Anna Marie Stack Rivas today was found to have made claims that were considered professional misconduct by a Coru committee - the regulatory body of health and social care professionals.
The committee recommended that the Health and Social Care Professionals Council “impose the sanction of censure” upon Stack Rivas, adding that she had “misinformed her audience regarding the existence and/or prevention of Covid-19″.
It said claims she had made during the pandemic were “irresponsible and caused risk to the public”.
During a series of speeches and talks she did at public events, she made claims about the pandemic while identifying herself as a physiotherapist and healthcare worker.
They include claims that residents of nursing homes aged over 70 were “culled” and that people who allowed their children to wear face masks were causing them “permanent brain damage.”
Stack Rivas also described masks as “satanic symbols” and claimed vaccines were “either maiming or murdering our children”, while the Covid-19 pandemic was “a conspiracy”.
The inquiry previously heard that the complaint against Stack Rivas was made by a member of the public from Cork who was concerned about the spread of disinformation about the pandemic.
The committee examined 39 different claims she made during three separate occasions: one event outside the GPO on O’Connell Street in Dublin City on 29 June 2020, another event at an unknown location on 19 December 2020 and an online interview she did on 27 December 2020.
The inquiry heard in July last year, that at the GPO event, Stack Rivas claimed Covid-19 was “no more than a bad flu” for some and “just a common cold for others”.
During her speech, Stack Rivas also said it was “an absolute disgrace” that medical establishments were stating that masks worked to prevent the spread of the virus.
“It’s just absolutely ridiculous that our health and our government are pushing people to wear masks when actually it’s going to actually make them sick,” she added.
The physiotherapist claimed she was “so angry” that independent scientists were being censored and she criticised immunologists and virologists who appeared on RTÉ, labelling them as “big pharma puppets” who were telling “lies”.
At the second public event, Stack Rivas claimed that there “was never a pandemic” and that hospitals were “never overwhelmed”. She also maintained that deaths in nursing homes, which peaked in April 2020, were “because care was withdrawn”.
In an online interview, she criticised “ill-informed colleagues” who didn’t do their own research. She expressed anger about the consequences of vaccines and claimed she’d been threatened with her job.
Stack Rivas claimed guidelines were being “pushed down our throat”, while the lies that were being spun were “unreal”.
She also claimed that the HPV vaccine was lethal and “can actually cause cervical cancer” and branded two prominent medical professionals, who appeared in the media during the pandemic, as “absolute criminals”.
In all cases, the committee had to determine whether it was true that Stack Rivas had made these claims, and further whether the claims could be considered professional misconduct “beyond reasonable doubt”.
All 39 allegations that Stack Rivas made these claims about the pandemic were found to be true by the committee.
In total, four claims – one made on 19 December 2020 and three made on 27 December – were “proved as to professional misconduct beyond reasonable doubt” by the committee.
Separately, 10 claims – one made on 29 June, one made on 19 December and eight made on 27 December – were “proved, individually, to constitute professional misconduct beyond reasonable doubt” by the Coru committee.
The committee recommended that the Health and Social Care Professionals Council “impose the sanction of censure” upon Stack Rivas.
The committee said that the statements that Stack Rivas made “misinforming her audience regarding the existence and/or prevention of Covid-19″ were found to have “constituted scaremongering”, while identifying herself as a physiotherapist and HSE employee.
Given the 34 claims were found to have been made in public settings during the pandemic, the committee said the statements made by Stack Rivas were “irresponsible and caused risk to the public”.
The committee also concluded that, despite admitting she made the claims in the transcripts given to the committee, Stack Rivas had “little or no remorse” for her actions and the committee had “no comfort” that she understood the seriousness of the claims.
“This goes to the risk that the respondent might repeat the conduct, albeit the committee is satisfied the behaviour occurred in the specific context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has now passed,” chair of the committee Georgina Farren said.
Farren said that the committee acknowledged that even though the claims were made by the physiotherapist outside of her work “it does not take away from the seriousness of the misconduct”.
“The committee does consider that the fact the uncontroverted evidence was that she was Covid-19 compliant within her workplace means that the recommended sanction should be as lenient as appropriate,” Farren added.
Three colleagues of Stack Rivas had previously given evidence that she was a “good” physiotherapist and healthcare professional, which the committee took into account alongside her “blemish-free career” prior to the allegations.
The committee also chose to give the benefit of the context of the pandemic and the contentious discourse it brought into the public sphere to Stack Rivas, however it did not call into question the seriousness of the claims she had made.
The committee believe the risk to the public from the claims made by Stack Rivas is now “minimal” and said the sanction of censure reflects the seriousness of the claims.
The group hopes it will deter Stack Rivas from making similar claims in the future.
In his letter to Coru, the complainant claimed the physiotherapist had spoken on the subjects of immunology and virology for which she had no expertise as well as making comments in support of figures including Dolores Cahill and Gemma O’Doherty.
Cahill is an immunologist, former-UCD professor, former chairperson of the far-right Irish Freedom Party and an anti-lockdown and anti-vaccine-campaigner.
O’Doherty is a former journalist and high-profile anti-immigration and anti-vaccine campaigner.
The complainant also claimed Stack Rivas was not adhering to public health guidelines.
Includes reporting by Seán McCárthaigh
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say