President Donald Trump waves to onlookers during a brief trip outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Sunday.Photo: ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images
The Walter Reed National Military Medical Center doctor who publicly criticized PresidentDonald Trumpfortaking a “joyride” around the hospitalwhile infected with the novel coronavirus in October, says he has worked his final shift at the hospital.
“I will miss the patients and my military and civilian coworkers — they have been overwhelmingly supportive,” the physician wrote. “I’m honored to have worked there and I look forward to new opportunities.”
CBS Newsreportedearlier this month that Phillips was set to be removed from the hospital’s rotation come January.
Phillips, who is still the chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University, had worked at Walter Reed as a contractor, a spokesperson told PEOPLE in a statement on Tuesday.
The Walter Reed representative said, “Dr. Phillips worked as a contract employee at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which provides requirements for contract employees to the contract agency.”
Dr. James Phillips.Dr. James Phillips/Twitter
Phillips, who has also appeared as a medical analyst on CNN, was the lone Walter Reed physician to publicly admonish Trump’s photo-op in October.
But others saw the president’s lap around the hospital as an unnecessary safety risk.
“He’s not even pretending to care now,” one Secret Service agent told thePostat the time.
Phillips hadtweeted— and then deleted — his own criticism, saying Trump’s move was “insanity.”
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theWHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
