Ken Paxton announced Thursday that he has intervened in a lawsuit involving a Texas Medical Board-disciplined Mary Talley Bowden, a Houston doctor reprimanded for attempting to treat a COVID-19 patient with ivermectin at a hospital where she did not have privileges.
Paxton filed a petition as an intervenor after Bowden sued the state medical board to overturn a reprimand issued in October and upheld in a final order in December. The board licenses physicians to practice in Texas.
In a news release, Paxton said he acted to protect Bowden’s constitutional rights and prevent administrative agencies from violating the rights of licensed professionals. He also alleged the board reprimanded Bowden without consulting medical expert testimony.
The 19-member board includes 12 physicians and seven public members appointed by Greg Abbott. Neither the board nor its president, Sherif Zaafran, immediately commented on the intervention.
Bowden said she welcomed Paxton’s support and expressed hope the case would be resolved.
Political observers noted the announcement comes as Paxton challenges incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in a Republican primary. Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said ivermectin has become associated with the “Make America Health Again” movement embraced by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and that intervening in the case signals support to that group.
Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug used in animals and humans, drew attention during the pandemic as some people opposed to COVID-19 vaccines sought it as a treatment. Texas later allowed pharmacies to sell ivermectin without a prescription, joining several other states, while lawmakers in Utah rejected a similar measure this month.
Paxton’s office did not respond to requests for additional comment on why he chose to intervene against a state board his office typically defends. The move follows previous instances in which he opposed state agencies, including siding with the Republican Party of Texas in a lawsuit against the Texas Secretary of State over election laws permitting open primaries.
In 2021, Houston Methodist Hospital suspended Bowden for spreading misinformation about the coronavirus. She later filed a $25 million defamation lawsuit that was dismissed.
That year, Bowden prescribed ivermectin for a COVID-19 patient hospitalized at Texas Health Huguley Hospital. The patient’s wife sued the hospital to allow Bowden to administer the drug, and a district court ordered the hospital to grant her privileges. An appeals court later directed the hospital to allow Bowden to apply for privileges. Bowden responded that she would send a nurse to administer the medication, and hospital staff contacted Fort Worth police after the nurse arrived.
The patient died in April 2023, and the cause of death was not disclosed in the obituary.
In its October ruling, the medical board stated that Bowden knew she lacked privileges to administer the prescription and expressed concern she might attempt to treat patients at facilities where she is not credentialed.
