Medical Freedom Candidates Skeptical of COVID-19 Narrative Are Trying to Take Control of a Florida Hospital

??@COVID19Up: Victor Rohe knew he had “a bad case of COVID" in September.

However, Victor didn’t trust the doctors at Sarasota Memorial Hospital to treat him, even though it’s part of one of Florida's largest and highest ranked medical systems.

Rohe, a self-described “constitutionalist,” instead rented his own oxygen unit and hooked it up at home. For the next several days, Rohe battled COVID-19 in his living room, relying on medical advice from friends and family members.

“If I went to the hospital, I believed I would die,” Rohe said.

Now a year later, Rohe is one of four conservative candidates trying to take control of the board that oversees Sarasota’s public hospital, highlighting how once-obscure offices are emerging as a new front in the political and societal battles that have intensified across the country since 2020.

The current Sarasota County Public Hospital Board members up for reelection this year—all of whom are also Republicans—are stunned to be facing a challenge from their own party.

The new candidates, whom are skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines and mandates, are rallying behind the theme of “medical freedom.”

Darryl W. Henry has served on the hospital board since 2008 and is facing a challenge from Patricia Maraia, a nurse running with the slate of medical freedom candidates.

On her campaign website, Maraia describes herself as a “conservative who is committed to serving her community” by advocating for “patient’s rights” and the “rights of the medical profession to practice medicine with freedom.”

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