Dr. Mayank Sharma Iowa paediatrician response to X comment from MAGA supporter leads to calls for his firing amid questions whether he is fit to retain his position at children’s hospital or simply exercising his free speech?
An Iowa pediatrician’s response to a Trump fan’s comment on X has ignited controversy after telling the MAGA supporter that he hopes ‘you lose your kid in a school shooting.’
Dr. Mayank Sharma, 35, a pediatric cardiologist at the Univesity of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital ignited calls to be fired following the tweet which came earlier this week.
During a heated back and forth discussion on X following the loss of Kamala Harris to Donald Trump earlier this week, a MAGA supporter told the cardiologist to ‘stay mad’ only for Sharma to make comments which have since raised questions whether he is fit to continue his role as a children’s cardiologist and whether parent’s children who supported Trump now risked receiving inferior care as a consequence of their political beliefs.
Define free speech?
‘Well I hope you lose your kid in a school shooting,’ Sharma wrote in a since deleted tweet. ‘Already you have nothing to lose, it won’t matter to you anyways! Prepare for your kids funeral.’
The comment has led to an Iowa lawmaker and a state representative, along with social media commentators demanding the pediatric doctor be terminated.
‘I thought it was disgusting,’ Carter Nordman, a Republican State Representative, told KCRG. ‘I found it extremely offensive.’
‘He’s an individual who works with children and who is being paid by Iowa taxpayers to work with children and is hoping and making claims that somebody dies in a school shooting based off a political belief,’ Nordman stated in a letter to the university where Sharma is a UI Health Care pediatric cardiology fellow.
‘I represent Perry and so I found it extremely offensive and unprofessional and most certainly does not align with the world class operations at the University of Iowa Hospital,’ Nordman wrote according to KCRG.
Adding, ‘I almost think it’s a borderline threat.’
The comment has set off debate whether Sharma beyond being distasteful and lacking tact was merely exercising his free speech, irrespective if many found his comment offensive and crude and ill-mannered.
Wrote one commentator, ‘I don’t like what the doctor said. However I don’t think he should be censored for his comments. What about free speech?’
Reflected another, ‘so free speech is only ok when it’s MAGA.’
Nevertheless commentators disproportionately were alarmed, even calling for Sharma’s immediate dismissal.
Stated one social media user: ‘Wow. This is scary. What would he do if a parent walked in with a kid and they had a Trump shirt on.’
Responded another, ‘Dr. Mayank Sharma needs to be fired anything less you’re complicit. “Do no harm”
‘He should lose his license and never be allowed around children ever again. He’s a pediatrician,’ wrote another.
Posted another, ‘Freedom of speech is often misunderstood. It’s freedom from gov’t retaliation. Not freedom from consequences from private employers. and NOT freedom to make threats, or anything like unto it. His comments were reprehensible, and conservative parents now will question whether he is giving his best quality care to any patient being seen by him.’
Dr. Sharma previously worked at SUNY Update Medical University in Syracuse, New York, where he completed his residency, CBS 2 Iowa reported.
More recently, he was listed as a pediatric cardiology fellow on the University of Iowa Health Care website – but his name no longer appears on the page.
University of Iowa Health Care said in a statement to The National News Desk that they are ‘aware of the situation and receiving the matter’ in accordance with the facility’s policies, CBS 2 reported.
‘The University of Iowa strongly objects to violence,’ the statement added.
Nordman wrote a letter to the Barbara Wilson, the University President, on Thursday afternoon, a day after the derisive tweet, where he called Sharma’s comments ‘repulsive, deeply unprofessional, and not representative of the world-class operations at UI Health Care’.
‘I believe the University should terminate his employment to assure Iowans that they can receive proper care from our state hospital, no matter their personal political beliefs or who they voted for,’ he wrote.
‘Maintaining his employment sends the wrong message to Iowans, who have resoundingly voted for President Trump three times.’
But not everyone is on board with having the children’s doctor sacked, with some arguing that his termination would be a violation of freedom of speech.
One of those people, Graham Piro, is a fellow at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression – a non-profit civil liberties group that advocates for free speech on college campuses, KCRG reported.
‘It harms the culture of free speech,’ Piro said. ‘It harms the ability of both staff and faculty members to express themselves freely off the clock.’
According to the university’s policies, the university can not control what their employees say on social media while off the clock – unless the speech ‘constitutes obscenity, incitement of illegal acts or violence, specific threats of physical violence or intimidation or violates the university’s policy on harassment’.
The US House of Representatives passed the Respecting the First Amendment on Campus Act in 2024, a law that is similar to state free speech protection laws the dailymail notes.
First Amendment protections were also codified on college campuses by Iowa lawmakers – a bill that Nordman himself voted for, KCRG reported.
Yet many people, including Nordman, believe that Sharma’s response – wishing harm upon a child – has nothing to do with free speech.
‘If you’re saying something like that on an X post so publicly and so out there, how do you know that the same standard of care can be given to a Trump supporter when they walk in and are seeking your assistance?’ Nordman told the outlet.
Nordman also put the doctor’s mental health into question, accusing him of suffering from ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’, Des Moines Register reported.
‘I think my letter has made it very clear what I think me and most of my colleagues would like to see,’ Nordman told the outlet.
‘I find it difficult to believe that he’s mentally capable of providing health care to children when he is making statements like that.’
University of Iowa officials continue to investigate.
