Resolution addresses medical decisions, including medical procedures and products, and withholds funds from sitting lawmakers or candidates who do not hold those values

Leah Anaya
For Clark County Today

As India plays peekaboo with another virus outbreak that could potentially see a COVID-style response, the Clark County Republican Party (CCRP) has adopted a resolution meant to tell politicians that they are serious when it comes to informed medical consent.

At its third quarter meeting on Sept. 9, the Clark County Republican Central Committee (CCRCC) adopted a resolution written by Bob Runnells of Informed Choice Washington. The resolution affirms its support of individual informed consent when it comes to medical decisions, including medical procedures and products, and withholds funds from sitting lawmakers or candidates who do not hold those values.

“This isn’t a case of forgive and forget,” Runnells told Clark County Today. “We should never forget the government overreach that occurred during the pandemic. People shouldn’t have been coerced into taking the shots and people certainly shouldn’t have lost their jobs and businesses.”

This past legislative session, Runnells assisted in attempting to pass Senate Bill 5596 and its companion House Bill 1610, both, titled “Restoring Trust in Public Health Through Consumer Protection,” which would have essentially separated further government agents from consumer goods relating to medical products and processes to ensure and increase transparency. The bill was co-sponsored by five Republicans, but Runnells was not able to get a Democrat to support it. 

“There need to be structural changes in how governments are allowed to deal with these situations,” he said. “SB5596/HB1610 encouraged our public health apparatus to simply tell the truth, and the bill died. This and other bills, like SB5909 limiting government emergency powers, are not being given consideration by the majority party, even though laws and resolutions to prevent government overreach during emergencies are being passed in many other states. We are not seeing direct changes that we desire through the legislature.”

In a press release following the ratification of the resolution, the CCRCC stated, “The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the natural ‘right of the people to be secure in their persons,’ and the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments protect the fundamental right to bodily integrity, while Article 1 Section 7 of the Constitution of Washington State states that ‘No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs.’” 

The Committee went on to explain that the government mandating a medical product or procedure by threatening loss of livelihood or other means and encouraging private businesses to do the same is coercion and therefore against both Constitutions.

The resolution includes the portion of the Nuremberg Code that states, “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.” The Nuremberg Code was written after the 1945 trials held in Nuremberg, Germany following World War II. During these trials, Nazi physician Karl Brandt was tried and convicted by US military tribune for war crimes including human experimentation meant to assist

Adolph Hitler in his creation of a purely Aryan race. The case was the beginning of the Code, which encapsulates ethical principles in medical trials, as well as voluntary and informed consent for the patient. Although the Code was never officially adopted by the United States, it is said to be the precursor for the Common Rule, adopted in 1991 as a Code of Federal Regulations, which also includes informed consent and other regulated ethics to ensure coercion is not used in medical decisions. In 2018, the Common Rule was updated in order to better protect “human subject” due to growth in research and technology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be argued that this Rule was ignored and even violated as the government mandated shots and incentivized private companies to do the same under an “emergency order,” which lasted in excess of 900 days in Washington State under Governor Jay Inslee.

The resolution also mentions the four principles of medical ethics, which are also included in the Common Rule. Those are:

• 1. Respect for bodily autonomy 

• 2. Beneficence

• 3. Nonmaleficence (do no harm

• 4. Justice, and the tenets of informed consent are imperative in the practice of medicine and health care. 

“During the prolonged state of emergency for COVID-19,” the resolution reads, “government officials and agencies enacted mandates that violated informed consent, the right to earn a living (through firings), the right to privacy (tracking and tracing), and medical ethics, while also inciting private enterprises to adopt the same mandates.”

In future, the resolution affirms that the CCRP will challenge “any emergency order, proclamation, directive, executive order, ordinance or law that mandates medical interventions, products, or procedures, or tracking and tracing of individuals” due to the violation of informed consent and said orders going against the Constitution.

Additionally, the resolution states that “the CCRP will only seek to endorse candidates who agree with this resolution, who pledge to strengthen informed consent, and will work to prevent and remove mandates for medical interventions, products, and procedures.” Candidates can’t receive money from the CCRP unless they’re endorsed by the party. Therefore, the resolution assures that no candidate will receive financial support along with an endorsement unless their values align with the aforementioned in terms of informed consent.

“There are many important issues that still need to be dealt with and continue to emerge in Washington, said Runnells. “I hope that this resolution, where we borrowed the best from other successful filings, will build a foundation for consensus on this issue across the state, and with enough momentum, will lead to the passage of a law. This resolution should not be difficult for any political party to agree with- it just more firmly and clearly states the rights that should always be protected.”

The adopted resolution can be read in its entirety here: https://clarkrepublicans.org/resolution-protecting-the-right-to-informed-consent