I decided to be a physician because my mother died from tuberculosis, after quite a struggle, including with not only tuberculosis, but also with the United States Public Health System, when I was 15 years old. I got an academic scholarship to college and then put myself through medical school.

I did an internal medicine residency at Washington University and Barnes Hospital and was an emergency room physician for about seven years in a large city hospital. Almost all the patients were on Medicaid, and there were a lot of medical problems due to smoking, booze, drugs, violence, and bad sex decisions. The hospital went broke and closed.

I was invited to do a dermatology residency. I had done basic research in that department at Washington University. So I did a dermatology residency and then moved to Florida and opened my own practice.

I have had a license to practice medicine in Florida for almost 30 years. I have never been sued, charged with, or convicted of a crime, and I rarely drink alcohol, let alone drive after a glass of wine or beer. I have never assaulted or robbed anyone in or out of the office. I did not bill fraudulently. I have been very honest.

The new Florida fingerprinting mandate

However, I was recently informed by email that under HB 975 / SB 1008, passed in June 2024 by the Florida legislators, I will be required to undergo a criminal background check and be fingerprinted to renew my license, as if I were a criminal. A physician who was in the legislature described being fingerprinted as the most humiliating thing he has had to do.

The Fourth Amendment to our Constitution reads “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

The dragnet requirement for physicians to undergo criminal background checks and fingerprinting is an unreasonable search and seizure, without probable cause.

The Florida legislators do not undergo criminal background checks or get fingerprinted. I looked up how many physicians have been charged with the crimes in the bill, and the percentage in the U.S. is about three-tenths of one percent. The percentage of legislators is far higher.

The growing physician shortage

There is already a huge shortage of physicians in the U.S. I plan to either let my Florida license lapse or put it on retirement, because I am sick of being kicked in the teeth by the government. As Dr. David Samadi said in the March 2021 issue of Newsmax magazine, “These are talented people and they went through years and years of training. They are super specialized and they are into saving lives. These are not replaceable talents,” he warns. “And when they retire, mountains of education, experience, hard work, and patient care retire with them, and it is gone. Replacing them is very difficult. They do not grow out of nowhere.”

I have written and sent a letter via the U.S. Postal Service to every Florida State legislator; I have had no response. I have sent a number of emails; the response has been the usual pablum. If you are a physician who objects to this outrage, especially in Florida, I invite you to get in touch with me and I will give you the email list and phone numbers of the Florida State legislators. I hope they have good luck getting their coronary artery bypass grafts done by a nurse practitioner.

Tamzin A. Rosenwasser is a dermatologist.