Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on Monday he is “paging” the state’s nursing board so that it can revoke the license of an anesthesiologist who claimed he won’t treat “MAGA” Republicans.
Erik Martindale, a registered nurse in Florida, faced intense pushback after making the controversial post on social media.
“I will not perform anesthesia for any surgeries or procedures for MAGA” he wrote in the now-deleted Facebook post. “It is my right, it is my ethical oath, and I stand behind my education. I own all of my businesses and I can refuse anyone!” Based on his profile, he graduated from the University of Miami.
Martindale later claimed his Facebook and Instagram accounts had been hacked, implying perhaps he didn’t post the anti-MAGA statement.
The Washington Examiner contacted Uthmeier’s office and the Florida Board of Nursing for comment.
The situation in which Martindale found himself is very similar to another politically divisive statement made by a separate nurse, who wished White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would suffer a “fourth-degree tear” in childbirth.
The perinatal injury is a particularly severe laceration that extends through the anal sphincter and into the rectal lining, and it requires four to six weeks to heal. A fourth-degree tear is pretty uncommon, affecting only about 0.03% to 0.2% of pregnant women.
“I hope that you f***ing rip from bow to stern and never s*** normally again, you c***,” the labor-and-delivery nurse identified as Lexie Lawler said in a TikTok video. The original video appears to have been taken down, but it was recirculated by Libs of TikTok.
Pregnant with her second child, Leavitt is expecting a baby girl in May.
Lawler has since been fired by her employer “following a prompt review,” Baptist Health South Florida said in a statement last week. Uthmeier also called for the revocation of her medical license.
“Glad she lost her job. Now it’s time for the license!” the Republican attorney general posted on X.
Despite their respective controversies, Martindale and Lawler have both used their social media accounts to decry the latest officer-involved shooting that killed an ICU nurse in Minnesota.
NURSE FIRED FOR WISHING PREGNANT KAROLINE LEAVITT ‘A FOURTH-DEGREE TEAR’
“They murdered a man in Minnesota, and you motherf***ers are coming after me because I used bad language,” Lawler said in a Facebook video. “F*** you! I’m on the right side of this. F*** you!”
Lawler has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser page in her name to fight the conservative backlash over her “political speech.” As of Monday afternoon, Martindale does not have a GoFundMe page.