Surgeon General Defends Going Maskless Near Senator With Cancer

Miami FL

27 October, 2021

11:23 AM

Description

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Florida's new surgeon general has defended his actions after attempting to go maskless when meeting with a state senator with breast cancer in her office. Sen. Tina Polsky, a Democrat from Boca Raton, asked Ladapo to leave her Tallahassee office when he refused to wear a mask after she told him about her medical condition. She was recently diagnosed with stage 1 breast cancer and had surgery on Sept. 27. She's about to start radiation treatment. Ladapo, who was recently appointed to the position of surgeon general, set up meetings with Polsky and several other senators ahead of the Senate's confirmation hearing for his appointment. When she asked him to put on a mask, he offered to meet with her outside instead. The senator told him that she'd prefer to stay in her office and asked him again to put on a mask. While acknowledging that Polsky "had every right to implement any safety protocols she wanted in her office," Ladapo defended his actions Tuesday. "I attempted in good faith to find some way for us to communicate that would respect each of our preferences," he wrote in a statement shared on Twitter. "Having a conversation with someone while wearing a mask is not something I find productive, especially when other options exist. It is important to me to communicate clearly and effectively with people. I can't do that when half of my face is covered." pic.twitter.com/mdDKEOA8H4— Joseph A. Ladapo, MD, PhD (@FLSurgeonGen) October 26, 2021 He said he offered alternatives "that would respect both of our preferences" to her, including an outdoor meeting and sitting outside her office in the hallway. "Unfortunately, she did not consider any of these options to be satisfactory," Ladapo said. Polsky told Florida Politics that he didn't respond when she asked him why he wouldn't wear a mask. "He just smiles and doesn't answer. He's very smug," she said. "And I told him several times, 'I have this very serious medical condition.' And he said, 'That's OK,' like it basically has nothing to do with what we are talking about." Want more local news? Subscribe to your local Patch newsletter. You can also have stories delivered to your phone screen by downloading from iTunes, or by visiting the Google Play store. When she asked him to leave her office, Ladapo reportedly said, "Sometimes I try to reason with unreasonable people for fun." Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson (R-Trilby) criticized the incident in a memo, without mentioning the surgeon general by name, calling his action's "unprofessional" and said it "will not be tolerated in the Senate."