Goliath wins again. But I'm not giving up.

Houston Methodist raked in over $13 billion in net income in 2023. This “non-profit” sponsors four professional sports teams, the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet, and runs ads day and night on television and radio. Not a day goes by that I’m not assaulted by their brand. On top of all that wealth, they pay zero taxes. Ranking the top non-profit organizations in Texas, Houston Methodist leads the list.

I once had privileges at Houston Methodist and was proud to have them. Methodist has prestige and joining their team is not easy. If Methodist were a country club, it’d be the most exclusive country club in town.

Pride turned to horror on November 12, 2021 when I received a text message at 4:30 in the afternoon (on a Friday of course) from reporter Julia Gill at the Houston Chronicle asking me to verify whether it was true Houston Methodist had suspended my privileges.

As the shock from that text was settling in, I received notice from a friend that Methodist was tweeting about me.

Having the most prestigious hospital in town announce to the world that you are “dangerous” is potentially career-ending and certainly unprecedented. To my knowledge, a hospital has never tried to publicly ruin a doctor in this manner.

Their PR campaign worked, and within hours, I had CNN, NBC, CBS, and the Washington Post asking me for comments. I was a deer in headlights and spent the weekend in the fetal position. Thankfully I had the sense to hire a lawyer and a PR consultant, and on Monday, I resigned from the hospital, held a press conference, and announced my intention to sue them.

Robert Malone referred me to attorney Steve Biss, who had successfully represented Devin Nunes in defamation cases. Biss was cantankerous and difficult to deal with, but the other lawyers I spoke to would not take my case. We lost, appealed and lost on appeal, but tragically, we did not lose on the merits of the case. Biss failed to include my date of birth and address on my affidavit. The court struck it, and without an affidavit, I had no argument. Biss failed to respond to motions to strike my affidavit, and following judgment against me when final legal fees were being discussed, he also did not respond. The court ordered me to pay Methodist $166,541 to cover their legal costs.

Shortly after losing the appeal, Biss had a massive stroke, and I haven’t heard from him or seen him since. I did manage to track him down in a nursing home, but he was non-communicative. He had no partners and no malpractice insurance. His ex-wife detests him and was not willing to help the slew of clients left hanging in the wind. It was truly the worst possible outcome I could have imagined.

I found a new lawyer, Dennis Postiglione, who graciously picked up the case to help me negotiate the terms of the settlement. Dennis tried for months to contact Methodist’s legal team. After no response, he eventually discovered the attorney on record was no longer employed by the firm handling the case (Yetter Coleman.)

Dennis asked the new attorney on the case, Doug Griffith, to waive the accruing interest since the delay in payment was due to matters out of my control. We also asked if the money could be donated to charity and entertained the possibility of reduced payment in exchange for a non-disparagement and confidentiality agreement. Doug agreed to waive the interest but declined both the non-disparagement agreement and the disbursement of funds to charity. Methodist seems to be a non-profit in name only.

On Friday, January 24, 2025, I signed the settlement agreement. I was eager to pay and move on and asked for wire instructions. I also had to have the money to them by February 1st. They ghosted us, so on January 29th, I mailed them a check which they received on January 31st. I assumed the matter was settled, and since they rejected a non-disparagement agreement, I had no qualms posting this:

These posts prompted them to change their mind on the settlement agreement, even though I had already signed and mailed the check. From my lawyer: “Opposing counsel sent an email saying that some Tweet or social media post you made about a Methodist employee was a basis for pulling the settlement and that they would pursue post-judgment financial discovery against you. Essentially, they will send you discovery requests seeking all of your financial information.”

As we prepared to take this to court, on February 13th, they cashed my check.

In response, we filed a motion to enforce the Settlement Agreement and asked for sanctions against opposing counsel. From our brief:

In short, the parties negotiated a settlement. A unilateral offer was made by Methodist. That offer was accepted by Plaintiff’s performance. Plaintiff accepted the terms exactly as presented by Methodist, executed the Agreement, and mailed payment five days earlier than the Agreement’s deadline. Defendants’ attempt to slither out of the deal and mischaracterize it now as a partial payment is in bad faith and constitutes sanctionable conduct. Plaintiff now seeks to enforce the Settlement Agreement and recover her fees and costs for doing so. A deal is a deal.

The hearing to settle this matter was rescheduled four times but finally took place last Wednesday. Attorneys Tracy LeRoy and Doug Griffith represented Methodist - Tracy handled the arguments and consistent with past behavior, made multiple misstatements. The first hearing we had on this issue - the initial one where were defending their motion to dismiss - she claimed my statements on social media were akin to telling the public to swallow bleach. This go-around, she complained I was posting too much about Houston Methodist on X, falsely exaggerating that I post on average twenty-five times a month about them. Somehow Tracy fails to appreciate that Houston Methodist launched me into the public eye, and were it not for their actions, I would have zero influence on social media.

Judge Erica Hughes stated that Methodist should have put the money into a trust since we did not have a settlement agreement, but nonetheless ordered me to pay them an additional $26,000+ in interest. We plan on appealing.

The one bright moment of the day occurred on the way out of the courtroom, where I was able to hand attorney Doug Griffith an advanced copy of my book “Dangerous Misinformation: The Virus, the Treatment, and the Lies.” I told him he was in it, so his ego will compel him to read it.

My friend Tom Slocum was also able to pester Tracy and Doug with questions they didn’t want to answer (see video at the beginning of this article.)

The ultimate takeaway from my fight with Houston Methodist is that the hospital cares very deeply about covering up their crimes. Despite their enormous wealth and influence, they are exquisitely sensitive to criticism. The biggest weapon I have against them is spreading the truth, and if you would like to help me in that endeavor, please consider purchasing my book. If you don’t want to read it, then send a copy to Methodist (CEO Marc Boom 6565 Fannin St., Houston, TX 77030.)