Imagine for a moment a scenario in which you were arrested for ‘suspicion’ of burglary. However, when you’re arrested, no one read your Miranda Rights. Suppose that to have you locked up all that was required was the ‘opinion’ of one government bureaucrat that believed you were guilty — without evidence. They simply had to sign a document accusing you of a criminal act and this leads to your incarceration.

Taking this a step further, after being arrested you have no rights to an arraignment, no speedy trial, no rights to a jury of your peers. You’re forced to confess and if you do not, you face a far more stringent sentence and can be found guilty without rules of evidence, but only on the say so of one government official. Because you ‘appeared’ to be dangerous, you’re put away with no recourse to a legal system that’s based on your Constitutional Rights.

A world without these Constitutional Rights would be horrifying, right? If such things could be done to a citizen, we wouldn’t call it liberty, justice, or the American Way. It’s not rational as those of us that have grown up here in the US have always felt the protection of our rights. We take them for granted.

Think this can’t happen in America? And it certainly couldn’t happen in the uber free state of Florida, right? Think again. Here’s the bad news. You can be forcibly locked up with no due process right here in Florida! Yes — Florida. The very same “Make America Florida” — Florida, the place where lockdown politicians come to party – Florida. This haven of ‘Freedom’ Florida.

“Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny.” Edmund Burke

In Florida, a single bureaucrat, the State Health Officer, has the sole power to deprive you of your rights in the event of a declared state health emergency. Florida statute 381.00315 provides the State Health Officer with the ability to forcibly isolate or quarantine someone ‘believed’ to be infected with a communicable disease. The common cold is a communicable disease. Now a reasonable State Health Officer isn’t likely to declare a state health emergency for the common cold, are they?

Per this statute, the State Health Officer is the one responsible for declaring a public health emergency. There’s no panel of experts that debate the matter and no judges to adjudicate it. Even the governor cannot immediately intervene. Per Section (1) (B) “The State Health Officer is authorized to take any action appropriate to enforce any public health advisory.”  These actions include: Ordering an individual to be examined, tested, treated, isolated, or quarantined for communicable diseases that have significant morbidity or mortality and present a severe danger to public health. Individuals who are unable or unwilling to be examined, tested, or treated for reasons of health, religion, or conscience may be subjected to isolation or quarantine.

If there’s no practical method to isolate or quarantine the individual, the State Health Officer may use any means necessary to treat the individual. Per Section (4) The department has the duty and the authority to declare, enforce, modify, and abolish the isolation and quarantine of persons, animals, and premises as the circumstances indicate for controlling communicable diseases……. Any order of the department issued pursuant to this subsection shall be immediately enforceable by a law enforcement officer.

The emergency continues until the State Health Officer determines, in their own judgement, that the emergency has been dealt with. There is a caveat in the law that requires the governor’s consent to continue the emergency past 60 days. Florida has been fortunate to have a governor that believes in the rights of citizens. But governors don’t serve indefinitely, regimes change. We may not be as fortunate with the next governor. Florida could one day end up like California where the governor wants to force vaccinate five year-olds in order to attend school, even if the child’s health risk is greater from the shot than the disease.

We’ve seen a lot of craziness these last couple of years with Covid-19 and what was arguably more dangerous than the pandemic were extreme measures taken by government officials here and abroad.

Paraphrasing a November 17, 2021, article from the AAPS (Association of American Physicians and Surgeons) titled, “Biden’s Bounty on Your Life: Hospitals’ Incentive Payments for Covid 19”: Provisions of the Cares Act led to tragic and avoidable loss of life for hundreds of thousands. They provided hospitals with numerous incentives for all things Covid-19 including testing, diagnosis, hospital admission, remdesivir, ventilators, and reported deaths. Attorney Thomas Renz and CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) Whistleblowers estimate hospitals likely received as much as $100,000 per patient. CMS Centers waived many long-standing and customary patients’ rights resulting from Cares Act administration and incentives.

These waivers of patient rights likely led to numerous deaths that might otherwise have been spared with treatments such as Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin when the combination of remdesivir and ventilators failed to be effective.  Such was the case of Daniel Pisano as reported in the Epoch Times on January 21, 2022. After admission to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Pisano’s condition had not improved after prolonged use of a ventilator. The Pisano family urged to clinic to allow an outside physician to attend to Daniel and attempt to address his condition with alternative therapeutics. Not only did the hospital refuse the family’s request, but they also vehemently fought in court to disallow changes to the hospital’s inept treatment. Daniel ultimately succumbed. Hospital administrators seem to forget about doing what’s right for the patient when there’s millions in government incentives to be had. Hospitals as well are shielded from liabilities via state and federal laws so long as they follow CDC and CMS guidelines regardless of their workability.

What’s most alarming is the VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System) data. VAERS is a CDC database early-warning system. In 2019, VAERS reported 605 vaccine related deaths the highest year on record since the start of VAERS in 1990. In 2021 with new Covid vaccines reported deaths skyrocketed to 21,900, an increase of 3,600%. In addition, there have been thus far more than 1.2 million reports of serious side effects including Bell’s Palsy, Myocarditis, Pericarditis, heart attacks and miscarriages. With this data known, it’s easy to empathize with the millions of workers, including health care professionals that didn’t want the shots. Many that refused lost their jobs. Moreover, since we now know that both vaccinated and unvaccinated can both contract and pass the Covid-19 virus — the choice to be vaccinated or have one’s children vaccinated should not be forced upon the individual. Covid is a serious threat to some — but this makes up a small and known portion of the population.

So, what’s the answer to all of this for the state of Florida? The answer would be a new state Constitutional Amendment that clearly protects individuals’ Medical Rights. This aligns with the US Constitution Bill of Rights Fifth Amendment’s last phrase: “nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” (One should consider their body as personal and ‘private’ property).

Thousands of pages could be written on the various ways that hospitals, Big Pharma, and government officials have — and will continue to violate citizens rights while claiming they know best. Perhaps it’s time that state and federal officials are relieved of their unilateral power over our lives and provided with new laws — or a Constitutional Amendment that provides for due process and ironclad patient rights.

One final note. Much of what I’ve learned about the flaws in Florida law and the remedies that can be put forth were from one individual that’s been fighting the cause for patient freedom especially in Florida. He is the attorney R. Shawn McBride. His efforts are greatly appreciated and worthy of support.

Stu Rosenbaum

President, NotOnOurWatch.us