Anti-Vax Doctor In North Texas Draws Controversy With Billboard

AMARILLO, TX — A doctor who had his license revoked by the Texas Medical Board has put up a billboard claiming "vaccines can cause autism — choose intelligent design." Roby Dean Mitchell, also known as Dr. Fitt, drew Reddit's ire recently after one Amarillo resident posted a photo of the billboard to r/mildlyinfuriating.

The billboard went up in September and serves a dual purpose; to draw attention to Mitchell's website and to promote the controversial stance that vaccinations for diseases like rubella, measles, and mumps can cause autism. The anti-vaccine movement continues to capture headlines around the world despite studies showing no connection between vaccines and autism.

The Reddit post which plucked Mitchell's billboard out of obscurity features more than 350 comments from people who believe his checkered medical and legal past make his anti-vaccination stance even more spurious. Mitchell chalked up the obsession over his background as a distraction.

"It's not new territory for me in regards to my ideas and actions being controversial," Mitchell told Patch.

Roy Gutterman, a professor at Syracuse University and director of the school’s Tully Center for Free Speech, believes Mitchell's billboard could be construed as political or commercial speech by a member of a regulated profession on a controversial on a topic that many in the scientific community believe is not based on real science.

"It appears that the billboard is intended to use a controversial message to drive business to the advertiser’s website which sells 'health products.' The question would be whether the advertiser is trading on his medical license and holding himself out as a licensed medical doctor providing medical care through the site," Gutterman told Patch through email. "But I do not think this billboard or the website could be construed as practicing medicine in Texas. I would be interested to see how the state medical board views this, though."

When it comes to unlicensed medical doctors, the Texas Medical Board's jurisdiction is limited, spokesman Jarrett Schneider told Patch. The board can issue cease and desists, but beyond that, it would be up to law enforcement and prosecutors to bring any criminal charges, Schneider added. Mitchell is no stranger to cease and desist orders from the board.

Mitchell, who graduated from Texas Tech's medical school in 1987, had his medical license revoked on Aug. 26, 2005, due to evidence claiming he was "a continuing threat to public welfare," according to medical board documents obtained by Patch. On May 25, 2012, the Texas Medical Board filed a cease and desist order against Mitchell after he treated a patient with metastatic melanoma, medical board documents state. Mitchell prescribed a course of what he described as "colostrum bovine treatment" that involved drawing blood from the patient and injecting it into the udder of a pregnant cow, documents state. The patient was then supposed to drink the milk of the cow.

"The patient paid $2,500 to Mr. Mitchell and $2,500 to the farmer with the cow," the Texas Medical Board wrote in its findings. "The patient died in hospice before he had the opportunity to drink any of the milk he paid for. The farmer wired back to the patient's family $2,500; Mr. Mitchell refused to provide a refund."

In January 2017, Mitchell was found guilty by a Randall County jury of making a terroristic threat, the Amarillo Globe-News reported. The guilty verdict stemmed from a Facebook post Mitchell made in May 2015 about Dr. Robert Kauffman of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Part of the Facebook post read, "Make no mistake that my desire is to put a bullet into the head of Robert Kaufmann MD and all of his flying monkeys," the Globe-News added.

Mitchell told Patch that he no longer practices medicine and now focuses his time on drfitt.com, which sells vitamins and weight loss products, among other items. The website also includes links to articles Mitchell has written. Some of the article titles include "How to Cure Breast Cancer" and "Your Immune System’s Response to the Flu Virus." Under drfitt.com's about page, it states that Mitchell "specializes in educating people to adopt lifestyle changes that prevent and reverse consequences erroneously called 'disease.'" The website also has the following disclaimer at the very bottom: "While www.drfitt.com provides tools to educate and equip individuals with information to make informed decisions concerning their personal health, the articles and information provided on www.drfitt.com are not medical advice, diagnosis, treatment or care, and should not take the place of a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional. The articles and tools are provided for informational purposes only and nothing on this website establishes a physician-patient relationship between you and any healthcare professional."

Mitchell believes that part of the reason why he lost his medical license was because the Texas Medical Board is "another arm of the pharmaceutical industry and their mission is to keep things as they are."

"It wasn't a matter of them taking the license, I rescinded that on my own because I couldn't buy into their philosophy of continuing to practice medicine in a way that's doing more harm than good," Mitchell told Patch.

In regards to why Mitchell continues to refers to himself as "doctor," he said "if you go through the curriculum and receive an M.D. and Ph.D. degree, you always have that. There's no rescinding that."

Mitchell has another billboard in Amarillo that links the mass shootings in the U.S. to the use of psychotropic drugs, he told Patch.

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Photo via brownbrownallbrown