A Scientist Refuses to Lie And Is Fired
By Thomas O. Melia, PEN America Washington Director
President Trump’s careening assaults on truth and facts have led to yet another dismissal of a truth-teller working in the federal government, whose firing comes at precisely the wrong moment for the American people.
Dr. Rick Bright was pushed out of his job this week as the director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and as the deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response.
This case is all the more alarming because it is not “just” another case of punishing a federal employee for telling the truth. This time, a highly regarded scientist is being punished and removed from a critical position for refusing to tell a lie.
It is even more appalling because the lie that Trump and his allies had been peddling, and that Dr. Bright refused to echo — that the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine was a viable treatment for the COVID-19 virus — has suddenly been dropped as a talking point by the president. This comes a day after news that a preliminary study conducted at a Veterans administration facility in South Carolina indicated that patients who took the drug were more than twice as likely to die from the disease it as those patients who did not take the drug
In a statement to Maggie Haberman of The New York Times, Dr. Bright said:
I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit. I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus, science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way.
This punishment, which is detrimental to the public interest because it takes highly qualified professionals out of critical positions at precisely the wrong time, brings to mind the case of U.S. Navy Captain Brett Crozier. He was relieved of command earlier this month in abrupt and irregular fashion for having the temerity to raise to his commanding offices his determination to secure medical help for sailors on the USS Theodore Roosevelt stricken with the virus. And it brings to mind the recurring efforts to muzzle the scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The president’s insistence on false narratives and snake oil cures may well have claimed lives. Unable to tweet the virus into submission, he’s turned his sights on the very scientists and experts who should be leading the way right now.
In short, the president’s assault on the truth has always been disturbing, but it has never been more dangerous.
Thomas O. Melia is Washington director of PEN America. He’s served multiple roles at the State Department and various non-governmental organizations.
