UW Health Services announced Monday it would begin an investigation into UW Health physicians who reportedly wrote sick notes for Capitol protestors last Saturday.
Thousands of Wisconsin teachers and state workers staged a ""sick-out"" this past week, calling in sick to join the protests. Following Saturday's Budget Repair Bill rally reports surfaced that some physicians were seen signing ""medical excuses"" for protestors outside the Capitol.
In a statement, UW Health condemned the physicians' behavior and distanced themselves from the physicians in question.
""This involved a few individuals out of the nearly 1,300 physicians at UW Health,"" the statement said. ""The UW Health physicians were acting on their own and without the knowledge or approval of UW Health.""
UW Health said they considered these charges ""very serious"" and launched an immediate investigation in conjunction with the Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
According to UW Health, the investigation will identify which physicians from their organization were involved and whether their actions constituted violations of the medical ethics of University of Wisconsin and UW Health policies and work rules.
Although UW Health Media Relations Director Lisa Brunette said they were investigating ""a couple of names,"" she said she was legally unable to release any other details due to the ongoing investigation.
According to the statement, ""any future disciplinary action taken will be considered a personnel matter and will be treated with the confidentiality required by University of Wisconsin policies.""
