Police handcuffed and briefly detained Rep. Ronny Jackson as he attended to a 15-year-old girl suffering from a medical emergency, the Western Journal reported. Jackson previously served as White House physician to former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
The incident occurred on Saturday as the Texas Republican watched the White Deer Rodeo held about 40 miles outside of Amarillo. A statement from his office said that Jackson intervened after being called over to help a teenager in distress, noting "no uniformed EMS providers on the scene at the time."
One of the girl's relatives, who is a nurse, was working on the girl but welcomed Jackson's assistance. Despite the fact that he was qualified as a trained emergency room physician, law enforcement attempted to stop him.
"While assessing the patient in a very loud and chaotic environment, confusion developed with law enforcement on the scene, and Dr. Jackson was briefly detained and was actually prevented from further assisting the patient," the statement explained. "He was immediately released as soon as law enforcement realized that he, as a medical professional, was tending to the young girl’s medical emergency."
The statement also added that Jackson was "in the stands during the entire rodeo, in full view of the assembled crowd, and was not drinking." Perhaps this was thought to be necessary as Jackson was previously accused of using alcohol and other misconduct while on the job in a 2021 inspector general's report, NBC News reported.
Still, the girl's cousin Linda Dianne Shouse, who is a nurse, denounced the actions of law enforcement, stating that their actions could have jeopardized the teen's life. "I have never been more disappointed in our Rescue Team!!!" she began on Facebook.
"I got called to render aide to my 15 year old cousin that was unresponsive at the White Deer Rodeo tonight!! She is not from here and was seen at the ER last night as she was told for dehydration and anemia!! I assessed her and she was NOT dehydrated!" Shouse claimed.
"She was responsive to my voice but not aware of her surroundings. Respirations in the 40s. As I assessed her I noticed she looked as tho it was hypoglycemic episode," she added.
“My cousin who is a BSN in a trauma hospital, myself and an ER DR were working on her. Had her responsive to her whereabouts! ER Dr agreed with me that she was seizing due to possible hypoglycemia," Shouse said, referring to Jackson.
"Sheriff’s department put a blood pressure monitor on her below her waist. I rose it to heart level and as she is awake and respirations are slowing down I placed a small piece of gum in a ball UNDER her tongue to give her some sugar. (Better than nothing)," the post continued.
"Deputys screamed at me and not listening to any thing US medical Professionals had to say, they punched me in my chest and forced me back with a palm to my face as well causing me to fall backwards!!" Shouse charged. "ER Dr was thrown to the grown and ARRESTED!!! I am beside myself!! Prayers for Bailey!!!!!" Shouse concluded.
She thanked Jackson in a subsequent post and later explained the situation in more detail to CNN. "He was trying to tell them that he was a doctor and probably trying to tell him who he was, to be honest," Shouse said.
"And they were screaming that they did not effing care who he was. And the next thing I knew, they had him on the ground, grabbed him by the shirt, threw him on the ground, face first into the concrete, and had him in cuffs." she claimed.
The girl was eventually transported to the hospital for further treatment. This misunderstanding was avoidable and an unfortunate incident for all involved, but the public is owed an explanation.
