NPR – Dr. James Phillips, the Walter Reed physician who criticized President Trump’s decision to greet supporters outside the facility where he was being treated for COVID-19, has worked his last shift at the hospital.
“I stand by my words, and I regret nothing,” Phillips wrote on Twitter.
The doctor’s pending removal from the work schedule at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center was reported in early December – two months after Phillips slammed the president’s refusal to isolate himself.
His announcement that he has now stopped working at the medical compound brought a new round of praise for Phillips, both for his work as a doctor and for speaking out.
Phillips, who is also the chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University, said in October that Trump’s insistence on riding in a motorcade past supporters gathered across the street from Walter Reed exposed his security detail and others to a high risk of infection by the deadly coronavirus.
The physician wrote in a tweet later deleted:
“The irresponsibility [of President Trump] is astounding.
“My thoughts are with the Secret Service forced to play.”
He also dismissed Trump’s outing — which came one month before the national election — as “political theater” that forced other people into quarantine and put them at unnecessary risk.
When NPR contacted Walter Reed about Phillips’ status on Monday, a representative stated that the doctor worked there as a contract employee.
The medical center “provides requirements for contract employees to the contract agency,” the representative said …
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