‘I Can’t Watch Them Die’: Doctor Won’t See Unvaccinated Patients

MOBILE, AL — An Alabama doctor is taking a stand by refusing to see unvaccinated patients.

When asked about his decision, Dr. Jason Valentine, a physician at Mobile’s Diagnostic and Medical Clinic Infirmary Health, offers a blunt but simple explanation: "If they asked why, I told them COVID is a miserable way to die and I can’t watch them die like that."

Valentine, who lives in a state where only 36 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, announced his new policy in a social media post that has since been made private, according to a report by The Washington Post.

In the post, he said the new policy will go into effect Oct. 1. Valentine said he is mailing his patients a letter explaining his decision, a letter he also posted online, AL.com reported.

"We do not yet have any great treatments for severe disease, but we do have great prevention with vaccines," the letter said. "Unfortunately, many have declined to take the vaccine, and some end up severely ill or dead. I cannot and will not force anyone to take the vaccine, but I also cannot continue to watch my patients suffer and die from an eminently preventable disease."

Alabama continues to be overwhelmed by new cases of the coronavirus, spurred by the spread of the highly contagious delta variant. The state is also setting hospitalization records.

The Alabama Hospital Association announced Wednesday night that there were “negative 29” intensive care unit beds available in the state, according to a Forbes report.

The strain on hospitals has prompted Gov. Kay Ivey to ask request staff and resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"As fast as we empty one bed, we have another patient come from another hospital to fill it," Douglas Brewer, CEO at Whitfield Regional Hospital in rural Demopolis, Alabama, told the Montgomery Advertiser. "It's a devastating time right now. I think most hospitals will tell you we're seeing it get worse by the hour right now."