Washington restricts license of controversial Idaho doctor for COVID-19 ‘dishonesty’

An Idaho doctor known for his controversial stances around protections against the coronavirus has had his medical license restricted in Washington state.

The Washington Medical Commission ruled Thursday to restrict the license of Dr. Ryan Cole, a pathologist and CEO of Cole Diagnostics in Garden City, after a lengthy investigation into his conduct surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, according to case documents provided to the Idaho Statesman by the commission.

Cole, who has been licensed in Washington since 2007, is now allowed to practice only pathology in the state and has been prohibited from practicing primary care medicine and prescribing medications, according to the records.

Pathologists specialize in diagnosing medical conditions using laboratory tests and techniques by studying human tissue, blood and other body fluids, according to the College of American Pathologists and Cleveland Clinic.

The commission said it found Cole unfit to practice after he “engaged in multiple acts of dishonesty when he made numerous demonstrably false and/or misleading statements in presentations regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 vaccines, the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 and the effectiveness of masks.”

The Idaho doctor is still licensed by the Idaho Board of Medicine and continues to serve on the Board of Health for Central District Health, which covers Ada, Boise, Elmore and Valley counties.

Cole did not immediately respond to the Statesman’s request for comment.

Commission members feared Cole would use his professional position to harm patients, according to the documents. They also said he willfully misrepresented facts when he provided a written statement to the commission stating he had not advised patients or the general public to refrain from getting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Cole regularly expressed reservations about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccine, calling it “investigational.” He also publicly called the vaccine a “clot shot” and “needle rape,” the Statesman previously reported.

An investigation found that Cole prescribed the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to multiple new patients online without a physical examination and did not conduct a thorough review of their medical history, provide them with adequate information about their medical condition or consider treatment options other than ivermectin, according to the document.

In 2021, Cole told the Statesman that he’d prescribed ivermectin to at least 170 patients, calling himself a “huge fan of ivermectin” — despite health officials warning at the time that its effects on COVID-19 were still unknown and despite the U.S. Food and Drug Administration receiving reports of people being hospitalized for using different versions of the product.

The Ada County Commission appointed Cole to the local public health board in 2021. The commissioners said in an emailed statement that he “continues to serve with professionalism.”

Cole argued to the commission that the sanctions were “too onerous,” saying the patients he treated never suffered harm, presentations he gave did not “constitute the practice of medicine” and that “in any event, he only made statements that he believed to be true,” according to case documents.

The commission said it would monitor Cole for the next five years.

Cole will be able to petition the commission to remove these restrictions if he completes approved reentry courses in family medicine within the next six months. The courses must cover required topics, including COVID-19, pulmonary and respiratory diseases, medical record-keeping and telehealth.

He also would have to complete an ethics and boundaries program for health care professionals known as PROBE; write a paper “addressing professionalism, truthfulness, and honesty in medicine;” pay a $5,000 fine; and appear before the commission.

Failure to comply with these requirements could “result in suspension and/or revocation” of Cole’s license. Cole has 30 days to file a petition for judicial review.

Ian Max Stevenson contributed reporting.