In Florida, 'health freedom' activists exert influence over a major hospital

https://www.npr.org/2022/12/21/ [login to see] /in-florida-health-freedom-activists-exert-influence-over-a-major-hospital
A Florida hospital has become the latest front for political activists eager to challenge protocols for treating COVID.

While most of the 6,000 hospitals in the United States are privately-run, about 200 are controlled by publicly-elected board members, according to Larry Gage, former president of the National Association of Public Hospitals. Typically, those elections usually have nothing to do with national politics or culture war issues.

But with seats opening on the Sarasota Memorial Hospital's board earlier this year, a group of political activists opposed to COVID protocols saw an opportunity. Now, the hospital has three new board members who question the effectiveness of vaccines and spread medical misinformation. While they're a minority on the nine-person board, their victory has thrown the hospital board's typically quiet meetings into chaos.