Texas Doctor Forced to Delete TikTok Helping Undocumented Immigrants Get Healthcare After Governor Threatens to Defund Children’s Hospital

A Texas physician was compelled to delete their TikTok about serving to undocumented immigrants get healthcare after the state’s governor threatened to defund a kids’s hospital.

Within the now-deleted video, Dr. Tony Pastor instructed viewers that they didn’t need to disclose their citizenship standing to medical professionals when receiving care, as reported by Chron.

The viral TikTok got here following Gov. Greg Abbott’s government order which requires public Texas hospitals receiving funding for Medicaid or the Youngsters’s Well being Insurance coverage Program to report on well being look after undocumented sufferers, as reported by the Austin-American Statesman.

Within the deleted TikTok, Pastor, who works as a heart specialist at Texas Youngsters’s Hospital, mentioned, “It has made all of us physicians and suppliers tremendous uncomfortable.” He added, “Nobody has instructed us what individuals are going to do with this data,” as reported by HuffPost.

It’s unclear whether or not Pastor took the video down by his personal selection or if the hospital or Baylor Faculty of Medication, the place he additionally works as an assistant professor, required him to. Texas Youngsters’s Hospital declined to offer an announcement to Chron.

After the November TikTok went viral, Abbott made a submit to X showing to threaten funding for the hospital Pastor works at.

“Hey, Texas Youngsters’s Hospital & Baylor Faculty of Medication this physician is placing your Medicaid & Medicare funding in danger. You higher suppose twice & have crystal clear information. There might be penalties for failing to comply with the regulation within the order,” Abbott tweeted.

Texas Youngsters’s Hospital mentioned in an announcement obtained by MedPage Immediately that it “totally helps Governor Abbott’s new government order and is in full compliance.”

“Whereas we acknowledge that people working at Texas Youngsters’s maintain their very own private views on many matters, these opinions don’t essentially replicate the official place of Texas Youngsters’s Hospital,” the assertion continued.

Following the governor’s tweet, Pastor made one other TikTok. Textual content studying, “When the gov of Texas threatens you on X as a result of he’s mad you exercised freedom of speech,” performs over the video of Pastor whereas the music “Widespread” from the film “Depraved” performs within the background.

Pastor has not made any extra posts or feedback surrounding the chief order.

Initially revealed by Latin Occasions.