Kennewick doctor’s license indefinitely suspended. Complaint over COVID vaccine made (original) (raw)

A Tri-Cities doctor has had her medical license suspended indefinitely after a complaint that she issued medical exemption letters to parents who did not want their children to receive COVID-19 vaccines.

The Washington state Department of Health also received a complaint alleging she disclosed confidential medical records without authority.

Dr. Virginia Frazer, a naturopathic physician at Blue Heron Naturopathic Care in Kennewick, reached an agreement with the state Department of Health to resolve the initial complaint received by the state.

A records complaint was made against her in February 2020, the agreement was reached in April 2020 and the complaint about COVID-19 vaccinations was made against her in November 2020.

However, Frazer failed to meet the requirements of the agreement, according to the state.

The state Department of Health’s Board of Naturopathy considered two aggravating factors before making a decision to indefinitely suspend her license.

It said Frazer had multiple disciplinary actions with the last few years, all focused on Frazer’s “inattention to important department correspondence and orders,” according to the order suspending her medical license.

State documents detail the Department of Health’s repeated attempts to get Frazer’s cooperation, including through email and leaving phone messages and visiting her clinic in Kennewick after receiving complaints in 2020.

It also listed “failure to pay attention to professional responsibilities” as an aggravating factor in her license suspension.

Under the agreement she reached with the state she was required to pass the state Board of Naturopathy’s jurisprudence exam.

She missed the six-month deadline for the exam, but passed it eight months after the due date, according to state documents.

The second requirement was to pass a continuing education ethics course. She was to have completed the course by spring 2021, but has not taken or passed the court to date, according to state documents.

Frazer told the Department of Health in spring 2021 that she could not afford the course. But she did not agree to an extension, according to the state.

The state has released no specifics about allegations made against her in 2020 regarding COVID vaccinations and medical records.

It said that Frazer has not responded to a letter of cooperation, not provided an opportunity for an interview and not provided documents and records requested by the interviewer in response to either of the 2020 complaints received by the state.

Frazer did not respond to a Tri-City Herald request for comment Friday.

Midwifery license suspended

Frazer had a license to practice as a naturopathic physician since 1993 and also has held a license to practice as a midwife.

Her midwifery license, issued in 1994, was suspended in 2018.

“The case involving respondent’s midwife credential involved serious recordkeeping and practice concerns, including missing test results, lack of records of infant and mother exams, illegible records, lack of informed consent, lack of standard laboratory tests including ultrasounds, evidence of strep infection in an infant with no documentation of treatment and no assessment of maternal temperature,” according to the Department of Health.

A year after her midwifery license was suspended she told the Department of Health she was unaware of that.

She had performed a few prenatal visits and one delivery after the suspension and asked if her signature on the birth certificate of that infant was valid, according to the Department of Health.

Shortly after that Frazer told the Tri-City Herald that her patients had not been in danger and that the suspension had to do with “clerical stuff.”

She denied all allegations, according to state documents.

Health officials also said that no patient had been harmed.

She is allowed to apply for reinstatement of her medical licenses.

Senior staff writer Annette Cary covers Hanford, energy, the environment, science and health for the Tri-City Herald. She’s been a news reporter for more than 30 years in the Pacific Northwest. Support my work with a digital subscription