A Tennessee doctor who issued bogus COVID vaccine exemption cards just surrendered his license following a Jesse Jones investigation.
Bellevue based Nurse Practitioner Tyler Cook tipped KIRO 7 Investigations off to a vaccine exemption hustle two years ago, after he learned about it from viewers of his Tik Tok page.
At the time Washingtonians and others around the country were looking for exemptions to avoid vaccine mandates. Tyler said he was getting messages about it, asking if its legitimate. Immediately he knew that it was not and reached out to Jesse Jones.
Jesse visited the doctor’s website and bought a COVID exemption card for cash, no appointment necessary. The exemption was for anxiety about the vaccine. $160 And a few days later a vaccine exemption card signed by Dr. Robert Coble from Hendersonville, Tennessee arrived in the mail.
“It’s very scary that physicians are willing to essentially exempt for no good medical reason,” said Dr. Patricia Kuszler, a medical doctor, attorney and professor for both Law and Medicine at the University of Washington.
Now, two years later, the physician who signed the cards has surrendered his license following a Tennessee Department of Health investigation. The consent order from the Tennessee Department of Health says Dr. Coble issued waivers to people in Tennessee, Maine, and Washington without being properly licensed. His grounds for discipline: unprofessional, dishonorable, or unethical conduct, making false statements or representations, fraud, or deceit in the practice of medicine.
It took some time, but Tyler is glad he was able to get this doctor’s card pulled. “I think it’s one of those things that maybe restores some faith in humanity that, you know, there is justice for some things in the world.”