HOUSTON — "Dr. Mary Bowden had her day in court," Houston Methodist said in a statement on Tuesday.
The hospital celebrated a legal victory after a judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by a former doctor. Dr. Mary Bowden was also ordered to pay attorney fees associated with the lawsuit.
Bowden made headlines when she spoke out publicly about Methodist's COVID vaccine mandates. She also accused the hospital of turning away unvaccinated patients.
The hospital suspended Bowden after it learned that she planned to treat only unvaccinated patients at her private practice. Bowden said the policy change wasn't enforced and said it was to prove a point that unvaccinated patients shouldn't be treated differently.
Bowden tweeted in opposition to vaccine mandates and in favor of treating some COVID-19 patients with Ivermectin, a drug federal health officials said hadn't been proven to be safe and effective in treating the virus.
At the time, Bowden said she felt as if Houston Methodist was trying to make an example out of her. The hospital denied the allegations and suspended Bowden for spreading what they called "dangerous and false information."
Bowden resigned and sued.
Methodist CEO Dr. Marc Boom released this statement after the lawsuit was dismissed: “We can now put this behind us and continue our focus on our patients, employees and community. As health care workers, we have a sacred oath to ‘do no harm,’ and part of that oath means doing everything possible to prevent the spread of misinformation that is harmful to our community.”