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The Texas Medical Board has filed a complaint against Ivette Lozano, MD, a Dallas-based family medicine physician who has been an of controversial COVID treatments like hydroxychloroquine.

Lozano has been charged with administering hydroxychloroquine, antibiotic and steroid injections, and oral supplements like zinc and B-12 without informed consent in the treatment of at least two patients with COVID.

One patient, who Lozano allegedly discouraged from going to a hospital for more intensive respiratory care, died of respiratory failure 2 weeks later. According to the , she told the patient that if he went to a hospital, he would be put on a ventilator and it "would blow out his lungs."

In light of these two cases, the board has accused Lozano of failing to meet the standard of care, failing to maintain adequate medical records, and inappropriately billing patients for "unnecessary services." She has formally denied the allegations, show.

Since the start of the pandemic, Lozano has joined the ranks of other Texas physicians who have been vocal proponents of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19. Stella Immanuel, MD, a Houston-based pediatrician and religious minister, came under scrutiny for calling the drug the "cure" to COVID-19 in a 2020 video that has since been deleted -- but not before it was retweeted by then-President Trump.

In a decision made in October 2021, the Texas Medical Board Immanuel to pay a $500 fine for prescribing hydroxychloroquine to COVID-positive patients without first getting patients' informed consent. The board and Immanuel agreed on a plan that would require patients to review and sign all consent documents before starting treatment with off-label medications.

Lozano made her own broad claims about COVID-19 and the state's response to the pandemic at a rally to "open Texas" in May 2020. A of her speech from the event shows her railing against other doctors who switched to telemedicine when COVID started to spread, rather than keep their doors open to sick patients.

"I have patients that recovered [from COVID-19] within 48 hours," Lozano said in her speech. "In fact, the illness that they had was more caused by the stress and the fear of the propaganda that's being spewed on the news media than by the actual virus."

Lozano specifically took issue with the pushback she was getting from pharmacists, who had requested patients' diagnostic information before authorizing their hydroxychloroquine prescriptions. As a solution, she told the crowd that doctors who want to prescribe the drug can just diagnose patients with other ailments like diabetes or high cholesterol. She later likened Walgreens's procedures for those wanting to pick up their hydroxychloroquine prescriptions -- which apparently prohibited patients from coming into stores -- to forcing Jews in Nazi-occupied Europe to wear badges to identify themselves.

"If you're taking a prescription for hydroxychloroquine, [Walgreens is] going to personally call you and tell you that they want you to come through the driveway," Lozano stated to a group of ralliers. "Well, you know what? Maybe later they'll ask you to wear a yellow star on your shirt."

According to public records, the board filed another complaint against Lozano in 2016 for failing to release patient records in a timely manner. This, however, was dismissed by the board a year later. Lozano can continue to practice as the mediation plays out, The Dallas Morning News .

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