Texas pediatrician ‘no longer employed' after post about pro-Trump flood victims
'We were made aware of a social media comment from one of our physicians,' read a statement from Blue Fish Pediatrics circulated late Sunday. 'The individual is no longer employed by Blue Fish Pediatrics.'
The statement also said: 'We strongly condemn the comments that were made in that post. That post does not reflect the values, standards or mission of Blue Fish Pediatrics. We do not support or condone any statement that politicizes tragedy, diminishes human dignity, or fails to clearly uphold compassion for every child and family, regardless of background or beliefs.'
Blue Fish Pediatrics' statement neither named the physician in question nor specified whether she had resigned or was dismissed. But multiple publicly accessible social media posts identified her as Dr Christina Propst. A Guardian source familiar with the situation confirmed the accuracy of the posts naming Propst. And, at the time it issued the statement, Blue Fish Pediatrics had recently unpublished Propst's biographical page from its website.
Attempts to contact Propst weren't immediately successful.
The post attributed to Propst prompted many – including on social media – to pressure Blue Fish Pediatrics to take action against her. For one, while they are entitled to the same constitutional free speech rights everyone else in the country is, many US healthcare providers are required by their employers to avoid publicizing opinions which could undermine trust in their profession among members of the public.
But the timing of the post also caused offense, coming after communities along Texas's Guadalupe River were overwhelmed early Friday from flash flooding triggered by torrential rain. The river rose 26ft (8 meters) in 45 minutes after 1.8tn gallons of rain fell over a region including Kerr county, Texas, about 286 miles (460km ) west of Texas.
As of Monday, officials were reporting more than 90 people had died – with others missing – during the flood. Many of those reported dead were in Kerr county. And many were children, including some who were attending Camp Mystic, a 99-year-old, all-girls, nondenominational Christian institution.
In the post that preceded the end of her time at Blue Fish Pediatrics, Propst alluded to how Kerr county had – like Texas as a whole – voted in favor of Trump as he defeated former vice-president Kamala Harris in November's White House election. Trump's administration has since eliminated mentions of the ongoing climate crisis and its consequences, one of which is downpours like the one that devastated Kerr becoming more common. He has also mused about 'phasing out' the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema), in part so that the president's office could be in charge of distributing disaster relief funds and ultimately 'give out less money'.
'May all visitors, children, non-Maga voters and pets be safe and dry,' said the post, which invoked an acronym for Trump's 'Make America great again' slogan. 'Kerr county Maga voted to gut Fema. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for.'
The post concluded with the phrase: 'Bless their hearts,' which in the US south is often used as a condescending insult.
Kerr county residents who survived the flood have since spoken about losing all of their possessions, including their homes. They have also recounted seeking what have proven to be elusive answers about the level of preparedness from authorities in charge of protecting their communities.
In short order, the post made its way to Blue Fish Pediatrics, which is described as an independent partner of Houston's well-known Memorial Hermann hospital network. The clinic chain – which was tagged by users demanding that it act against Propst – said in a statement that the group was immediately placing the message's author on leave. A subsequent statement indicated that the post's author was no longer an employee of the chain while expressing 'full support to the families and the surrounding communities who are grieving, recovering and searching for hope'.
Meanwhile, a statement from Memorial Hermann said that the post's author was not directly employed by the network. The statement, though, made it a point to say, 'We … strongly condemn these statements … [and] we have zero tolerance for such rhetoric which does not reflect the mission, vision or values of our system.'
Propst's unpublished biography described her as a native of New York who graduated from Princeton University in 1991. She later graduated from New Orleans's Tulane medical school, received certifications from the American board and academy of pediatrics and spent 17 years in group practice in Houston before joining Blue Fish in 2018.
According to the unpublished biography, Propst was voted 'best pediatrician' in numerous reader polls conducted by Houston's Bellaire Examiner newspaper.
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