Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
The doctor in Austria who claimed that face masks do not protect people from coronavirus and that vaccinations are “bodily harm” will be allowed to keep her job after she agreed to a gagging order.
The doctor, named only as Konstantina R. due to strict local privacy rules, had initially been “released from duty”, according to Austrian newspaper Heute.
But now, Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung report that the KAGes (‘Krankenanstaltengesellschaft’; the Styrian Medical Association) has ruled in a disciplinary hearing that “the employment relationship will not be terminated”.
Although Kronen Zeitung also noted that the KAGes “emphatically distances itself from the medical doctor’s statements.”
In a press release quote in the Austrian newspaper, the KAGes wrote that there had been a detailed discussion with the doctor concerned in the presence of KAGes representatives and her immediate superior, the head of the clinical department for cardiology.
Over the course of the conversation, it was found that the physician had always complied with all requirements and, as a physician, had always acted patiently and competently.
The KAGes did not terminate the employment relationship, but it did issue a stern warning.
The conditions require that the doctor make no reference to her work as a hospital doctor in future public statements and that instructions from the KAGes, in particular regarding matters of hygiene, are not questioned or criticised.
If the conditions are violated, the employment relationship will terminated with immediate effect.
The incident initially took place in the Austrian capital Vienna, when the doctor said at a rally that “anyone who claims that face masks protect from something is lying”.
She also reportedly claimed that the masks are only there to humiliate people and to make people think that the other person is dangerous, and claimed vaccinations are “bodily harm”
Gaby Schwarz, deputy general secretary and health spokeswoman for the Austrian People’s Party (OVP), led by Sebastian Kurz, the country’s chancellor, is quoted in Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung as saying: “The social-democratic councillor not only spreads falsehoods about the effect of mouth-nose protection, she also causes a scandal with a protest, in which opponents to a vaccine compare themselves with “Impfen macht frei” (‘Vaccines make one free’) posters with concentration camp prisoners.”
‘Arbeit macht frei’ (‘Work make one free’) is a slogan known for appearing on the entrance of Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps.
Schwarz added: “Such behaviour must not be tolerated in politics and requires consistent action by the SPO chairwoman and doctor Pamela Rendi-Wagner.”
She also reportedly said that an immediate resignation of the politician concerned and clear words from the SPO leader are the only conceivable consequence.
Konstantina R. works in the city of Graz, the capital city of the southern Austrian province of Styria, at the LKH University Hospital Graz.
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