by Brenda Baletti, Ph.D., Childrens Health Defense:
In an exclusive interview with The Defender, Dr. Mary Kelly Sutton recounts how she lost her medical license — in two states — after being accused of improperly exempting eight children from required school vaccinations.
The Massachusetts medical board last month revoked the medical license of Dr. Mary Kelly Sutton, following the California medical board’s decision last year to revoke her license for, according to the board, improperly exempting eight children from required school vaccinations.
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The California board alleged that Sutton — an integrative physician, licensed and practicing since the early 1970s — had written the exemptions based on a rationale that was not fully compliant with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) guidelines.
The board disciplined her as part of California’s move in recent years to cut back on medical exemptions for vaccines by sanctioning doctors who provide them.
California first revoked Sutton’s license on Dec. 8, 2021, effective January 2022. She appealed the revocation, filing two writs of mandate in Superior Court in March 2022. The California board had prematurely closed her case despite the filing of the writs, and the ongoing appeals process.
On Dec. 20, 2021, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine filed a complaint against Sutton, saying it was enacting “reciprocal discipline” against her, mirroring the discipline imposed by the California board — even though Sutton had not violated any rules or laws in Massachusetts, where she had been licensed to practice medicine since 2015.
The Massachusetts board informed Sutton that a committee would investigate her actions and make a disciplinary recommendation to the board unless she opted to resign.
Sutton was residing and practicing in Massachusetts at the time, where she had moved to be near her grandchildren. She had no interest in resigning.
Upon learning her California case was being appealed, the Massachusetts board initially stayed the proceeding.
But on Sep. 8, 2022, the board issued a Statement of Allegations against Sutton, stating that she had engaged in conduct — in California — that placed into question her ability to practice medicine, that she “lacks good moral character” and has behaved in a way that “undermines the public confidence in the integrity of the medical profession.”
The allegations were addressed to the Division of Administrative Law Appeals (DALA), an independent agency that conducts due process adjudicatory hearings for Massachusetts state administrative agencies.
The document ordered Sutton to show cause as to why she should not be disciplined in Massachusetts.
Sutton told The Defender she had not violated Massachusetts rules in any way or committed any new offenses, and that despite repeated requests, the board shared no information with her about its investigation.
She said she was left wondering, “How did they make this decision? What were the meeting topics? What was the sequence of thinking? And did they know that I already had two lawsuits [challenging the revocation] filed in California?”
Sutton said:
“The Massachusetts board turned out to be very aggressive and not inclined to follow normal courtesy and procedures in legal discussions back and forth. But that’s — I’ve learned since then — pretty much characteristic of bureaucracies.
“There’s a level of power given to the administrative state because they’re supposed to be experts in their field, so they feel they don’t have to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s that would be required in a normal legal argument back and forth where you clearly state ‘these are the facts, these are the key issues.’”
At a pre-hearing conference on Nov. 15, 2022, the opposing counsel cut the conference short, indicating she would introduce a motion for summary decision.
That meant there would be no discussion of charges, evidence presented or questions responded to. Instead, they would “go straight to discipline,” Sutton said.
“In effect … it was kind of like ‘Shut up and sit down,’” she said.
Sutton said the “Division of Administrative Law Appeals in Massachusetts is assigned a role of being the neutral arbiter and very clearly sided with the Massachusetts Board of Medicine from the beginning.”
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