Capital Regional doctor removed for offering $50 mask opt-out letters

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) - Capital Regional Medical Center says it removed a doctor from providing patients services after the hospital learned he offered mask opt-out letters to Leon County parents for $50.

Multiple WCTV viewers sent tips to our newsroom Tuesday about Brian Warden’s Facebook posts promoting the “medical opt-out interview” screenings.

One of Warden’s posts was shared in the Facebook group “Parents Against Masks.” In it, he directly asks parents in Leon County, Florida, to private message him if they need a medical exemption letter for their child.

Warden says in one of his posts he was doing the interviews under Dove Field Health LLC, his own business not affiliated with any hospital or group. According to the Florida Secretary of State’s website, Warden’s LLC was incorporated on July 26, 2021.

A CRMC spokesperson sent WCTV the following statement.

“We act with absolute integrity in all that we do, and it is our expectation that providers behave in a way that is consistent with those values,” the hospital’s statement says. “Immediately upon learning of this physician’s actions, we began the process of removing him from providing services to our hospital patients.”

WCTV reached out to Dr. Warden. He has not returned our message.

According to the Florida Department of Health’s website, Warden was initially issued his Florida medical license on Feb. 15, 2021. He graduated from Temple University in May 2018, DOH says. As of Wednesday morning, DOH’s website did not list any emergency actions, discipline cases or public complaints on Warden’s page.

Doximity, a networking website for healthcare professionals, says Warden specializes in emergency medicine. It says he was in residency at Thomas Jefferson University from 2018 to 2021.

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