A school board member in Illinois could lose his medical license because of his opposition to Gov. Pritzker’s school mask mandate.
Sports medicine physician Jeremy Henrichs’ case is garnering statewide attention, even all the way to the state capital. One republican lawmaker is reminding the state’s governor that intimidating public officials is a felony.
Henrichs serves on the Mahomet-Seymour Board of Education and the faculty of the University of Illinois Carle College of Medicine. He’s also a team physician for the university’s athletic department, Just the News reports.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation told Henrichs last week that the Medical Investigations Unit is reviewing him for “unprofessional conduct” in violation of the Medical Practices Act.
An unidentified medical investigator last week requested a “detailed statement” about his opinion on masks and whether he would enforce a mandate based on his elected position as a school board member.
An investigator told Henrichs’ attorney that a parent or concerned citizen apparently complained about his opinion on school mask mandates.
Indeed, Henrichs voted to approve a "mask-optional plan that would re-impose masks if infection rates rose too quickly.”
Illinois Sen. Chapin Rose filed a complaint with the Office of the Executive Inspector General asking for an investigation of the investigation.
This "potential criminal activity … is part of a pattern of abuse of power that the Pritzker administration is undertaking to tamp out any dissent," the lawmaker said in a Thursday press release. "Who knows how many others will have their licenses threatened" in fields such as insurance, real estate and banking "unless they vote with the governor?"
