A family doctor who posted videos boasting he and his staff were not wearing face masks has had his licence revoked indefinitely.
The emergency suspension to strip Dr Steven LaTulippe’s licence to practice medicine was taken by the Oregon Medical Board out of concern for the “safety and welfare” of his patients.
A video of Dr LaTulippe at a "Stop the Steal" rally by supporters of President Donald Trump shows him talking to camera in Salem, Massachusetts, in the US, at the beginning of November.
It was posted to YouTube by Multnomah County Republicans and shows Dr LaTulippe saying: “I want to expose what I call ‘corona-mania'."
He said: "I petition all of you, take off the mask of shame.
"I want you to know that I never shut down during the entire Covid season from the time it was declared until now.
“I hate to tell you this — it might scare you, but I and my staff, none of us — once — wore a mask in my clinic.
‘We have been utterly duped, and I want you to know that this is insanity and the purpose was only to shut down the American people.
"This is a threat to your freedom, a threat to our constitution."
He added that masks are "just designed to control you and to shut you down".
In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged the "universal use of face masks" in an effort to battle the pandemic.
It warned that the US has "entered a phase of high-level transmission".
In the UK, the NHS advises all staff working in hospitals and GP surgeries to wear a mask.
An investigation by the medical board found LaTulippe had also advised a patient in July not to get tested for coronavirus, wear a mask or self-isolate, NBC News reported.
