NH's medical board agrees: doc has 1st Amendment right to be a jerk

As reported here earlier, a local NH court ruled that Terry Bennett's rude and crude comments to his patients were protected by the First Amendment and couldn't be the basis of a disciplinary case against the doctor. Apparently the New Hampshire State Board of Medicine agrees. As reported by Modern Healthcare today, the Board

will not appeal a court decision that blocked a disciplinary case over comments made by Rochester, N.H., physician Terry Bennett to patients in his private practice. The board sought to determine whether Bennett's comments, which at least three patients characterized as offensive, breached professional ethics standards.

This has to be the right result, from a constitutional perspective. Too bad it will probably only encourage the good doctor in his boorish and racist comments. The AP story is here (courtesy of the Boston Globe).