ABIM Revokes Two Doctors’ Certifications Over COVID Comments

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) has revoked the board certification of two physicians involved in the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC).

An ABIM spokesperson confirmed to MedPage Today that Paul Marik, MD, and Pierre Kory, MD, had their certifications revoked as of August 8.

Marik and Kory previously had certifications in internal medicine and critical care medicine, and Kory additionally held a certification in pulmonary disease.

The ABIM spokesperson said the organization “does not comment publicly on the reasons for the revocation of certification,” but the FLCCC had previously stated that the action was taken because of the doctors’ “public endorsements of early treatment methods for COVID-19, their discussions on repurposed medications, and their critique of vaccine risks and harms.”

Initial notification to Marik and Kory about losing ABIM certification came about 2 years ago, in May 2022, according to the FLCCC. Last year, ABIM’s Credentials and Certification Committee reportedly recommended — after a “year-long back-and-forth” — that Marik and Kory have their certifications revoked for spreading “false or inaccurate medical information.”

Marik and Kory defended their board certifications at an ABIM hearing this past May, according to the FLCCC, which did not issue a statement regarding ABIM’s latest action.

In 2022, Marik also let his medical license expire, after resigning from his position at Eastern Virginia Medical School. He had been enmeshed in controversy there, filing a lawsuit against Sentara Healthcare in Virginia over its ban of some COVID treatments.

That lawsuit was filed on the same day that the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine retracted an article that Marik co-authored on his MATH+ Hospital Treatment Protocol for COVID, which included ivermectin. The retraction notice cited a communication the journal received from Sentara that raised concerns about the accuracy of COVID hospital death data reported in the article.

Marik also had a run-in with the Virginia Board of Medicine in March 2021, when he entered into a consent order for allegedly prescribing controlled substances to a handful of individuals outside the limits of his license and “absent a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship.”

Kory still holds active medical licenses in California, Michigan, New York, and Wisconsin, according to DocInfo.org, the physician license lookup tool from the Federation of State Medical Boards.

At least one other physician has said he lost his ABIM certifications because of statements he made about the COVID-19 pandemic: Peter McCullough, MD.

McCullough said in November 2022 that his ABIM certifications in internal medicine and cardiology were revoked, but that he was planning to appeal the ABIM committee’s recommendation. As of press time, McCullough is still listed as holding those certifications on the ABIM website, and the ABIM spokesperson said the group “stands by the accuracy of the status reports” on its website.

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