Embark on an intimate journey with us as we sit down with Dr. Bill DeVore, a remarkable figure who not only embodies the legacy of a family deeply rooted in the healing arts but also carries the torch as a compassionate anesthesiologist. His stories traverse the halls of medical school, where the Lord lead him to his partner for life, and extend into the complexities of healthcare and personal satisfaction derived from decades of patient care. The conversation takes a turn towards Dr. DeVore's bold strides into the political realm, revealing his motivations for pursuing a seat in the State House of Representatives and his drive to make a difference for the greater good through challenging yet rewarding pathways.
In our exchange, we confront some of the most pressing topics at the intersection of medicine, freedom, and government oversight, casting a spotlight on the vigorous support for Senate Bill 975 in South Carolina. As a steadfast advocate for medical freedom and informed consent, I dissect the profound implications of government mandates and the significance of patient-centered care. Moreover, we celebrate the triumph of grassroots activism, as illustrated by the compelling "Help Not Harm" bill, a legislative victory spurred on by the collective efforts of concerned citizens and medical professionals like Dr. Miriam Grossman. The narrative unfolds further with personal reflections from the campaign trail, showcasing the potent force of community involvement in shaping health policy and defending the sanctity of personal choice for families across the nation.
Embark on an intimate journey with us as we sit down with Dr. Bill DeVore, a remarkable figure who not only embodies the legacy of a family deeply rooted in the healing arts but also carries the torch as a compassionate anesthesiologist. His stories traverse the halls of medical school, where the Lord lead him to his partner for life, and extend into the complexities of healthcare and personal satisfaction derived from decades of patient care. The conversation takes a turn towards Dr. DeVore's bold strides into the political realm, revealing his motivations for pursuing a seat in the State House of Representatives and his drive to make a difference for the greater good through challenging yet rewarding pathways.
In our exchange, we confront some of the most pressing topics at the intersection of medicine, freedom, and government oversight, casting a spotlight on the vigorous support for Senate Bill 975 in South Carolina. As a steadfast advocate for medical freedom and informed consent, I dissect the profound implications of government mandates and the significance of patient-centered care. Moreover, we celebrate the triumph of grassroots activism, as illustrated by the compelling "Help Not Harm" bill, a legislative victory spurred on by the collective efforts of concerned citizens and medical professionals like Dr. Miriam Grossman. The narrative unfolds further with personal reflections from the campaign trail, showcasing the potent force of community involvement in shaping health policy and defending the sanctity of personal choice for families across the nation.
Welcome to More Than Medicine, where Jesus is more than enough for the ills that plague our culture and our country. Hosted by author and physician, dr Robert Jackson, and his wife Carlotta and daughter Hannah Miller. So listen up, because the doctor is in.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, Dr Robert Jackson, bringing to you biblical insights and stories from the country doctors, Rusty dusty scrapbook. Well, I'm delighted today to have a good friend of mine, Dr Bill DeVore, online with me. Welcome, Dr DeVore.
Speaker 3:
Well, thank you, Dr Jackson, for having me on the show.
Speaker 2:
Well, I'm delighted to have you and I want to. First of all, I want to ask you to tell my listeners a little bit about yourself and your family, and a little bit about your background and your training. Can you do that for us?
Speaker 3:
I sure can. I am the product of physician parents. My father was a GP a general practitioner is what they called family practice back in the day and my mother was a GP as well and they met in medical school and got married and had five kids and I'm one of the five. I have a twin sister and I've got. My mom had another set of twins and then my brother, douglas. There are two doctors out of the family. My brother is a urologist and he's just recently retired and I went into anesthesia.
Speaker 3:
My mama went into anesthesia after she had the five kids. She decided GP and some of the things that were going on emergency things that she needed a little more regular schedule, so she went over to Augusta. I was right in Jackson, south Carolina, which is right on the border in Aiken County between Augusta and Aiken County. So I had that and I went to a little high school there. 50-some-odd people in my high school class Went to Clemson University, got a degree there in biochemistry. Then the big part of my life is I went to medical school across the river at the Medical College of Georgia. The first day of registration line, my wife.
Speaker 2:
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3:
She was about, I'd say, 20 people ahead of me in registration line and I saw her and Dr Jackson, this is no story. I saw her and I said there she is, there she is, and literally there she is. Oh my gosh, there she is, I'm not lying. And so I broke line and made my way up talking you know, talk with with people as I'm shaking hands and got right up behind her and uh started talking to her and so I met her there. She'll has another side of the story that maybe one day she can tell you about what happened the evening before.
Speaker 3:
But there was another thing. And then, when I left my name badge on the table when our pictures got taken, she saw my name and she said, oh my, it's him. He heard about me the night before through my mama, who was a physician, and they had a little women's physician outing that evening and she heard I was in the class and there I was. So anyway, we got married in medical school, went to University of North Carolina and we did our residencies there I'm in anesthesia, Of course, karen, my wife is in dermatology and then we moved to Spartanburg and we've been here since and had four children. One of our children did. Uh is a physician. She has just finished her intern year down in charleston, or will very soon. And then my other three kids are in business, um ventures, uh, one daughter has a small business here in spartanburg how about that?
Speaker 3:
how about that yeah yeah so that's kind of been a nutshell of where I've been. I've been at Spartanburg Regional for almost 30 years but left there and have been doing locum work but it's been very, very steady and more than I really wanted to work. But there's such a need out there for seasoned doctors and so I help out in Greenwood and I go to Ann Med in Anderson and so that's where I'm currently Seasoned doctors.
Speaker 2:
is that what you and I are, bill is?
Speaker 3:
seasoned doctors.
Speaker 2:
We are seasoned doctors and I tell my wife that I really like the way you said that I'm going to have to explain that to her that I am a seasoned doctor.
Speaker 3:
Dr Jackson, we are seasoned doctors and the patients are so appreciative of having the way we think is different than the way the younger doctors are. I think just experience and life. You approach things differently and they sure appreciate it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah, I can tell that. I can tell my patients appreciate the way I think and a little bit of wisdom and experience. They tell me that on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:
Yes, yes All right well now.
Speaker 2:
so now I understand, dr DeBoer, that you're venturing into politics. Now what in the world possessed you to do that?
Speaker 3:
Yes, I am. I did decide to offer myself up as a candidate for the State House of Representatives here in District 33. And I ran. Two years ago and that's when it started I was down in Columbia visiting a friend legislator down there and we were out having a steak dinner and literally I was down there just to check on him. He's a fellow Christian and he is a freedom fighter down there and he's really basically at that time was known as the one who votes no all the time.
Speaker 3:
Because, everything came up, it was just no, and so he was feeling a little bit down of why he was there and things, and so I went down there to cheer him up. We had a lot of good conversation and one of the passages that I was talking about at the dinner table was just the two of us two guys talking was about the narrow gate. About at the dinner table, with just the two of us two guys talking was about the narrow gate and entering through the narrow gate for the. You know, the gate is wide and the way is broad.
Speaker 2:
That leads to destruction and there are many and easy, broad and easy that leads to destruction.
Speaker 3:
Yes, that's right, and so we're talking about that. And then he just stopped me in my conversation and he says this is great, I've got to ask you a question. And I said what? And he says would you run for the house? We need people like you down here. I said I need you down here. So here's a fellow Christian saying needing my help. Yeah, I hear you.
Speaker 3:
And that I had not thought I've been practicing medicine. I was still at spartanburg regional doing all the things that I do there and and things. And this guy asked me, says no, I'm serious. I said what no? And no, no forethought on it at all, whatever. And so I came home, we prayed about it, talked to Karen about it, we you know all the mess that had been going on in the country during that time and you know, with elections we weren't sure about the you know the fraudulent in elections and things with the schools, and we had COVID going on and all this mess and yeah. So I called him back and I said I'll come help you, I'll give it a go and try. So I ran two years ago, narrowly lost. The same situations are still prevalent and so I decided to run again and see it.
Speaker 2:
How about you? You're just so courageous, dr DeBoer. I'm just admiring you.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, but it really is a duty. It is a duty I felt, as if it was a duty that I should do for truth and for managing what God has given us in this world that, down in Columbia is just being mismanaged. Truth and our treasure is being, I think, mismanaged, and so it's my duty to do it. There was no question of trying to what's good for me or what's this. No, that is my duty at this point, with all I've been through in life, to step up, and we talked about that. Men need to be stepping up.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, yeah you're right, we talked about that during this discussion, with the steak as we're talking, and that was part of it Now what are the issues that really really catch your attention and get you fired up the most?
Speaker 3:
Well, you know, Karen and I we've been pretty outspoken about all the outrageous things that happened during COVID, and so the medical freedom issue, how doctors were suppressed when we were trying to seek out the truth and what was going on and then state what we saw was true and being suppressed in that that really was upsetting. And then what I was seeing in the hospital and some of the some of the things where we weren't reaching out and trying to keep people out of the hospital with things that we knew were working personally and personal stories, as yourself you know that these, these treatments were real.
Speaker 3:
It really did help people stay out of the hospital and made them feel better. But they were poo-pooing it as being nonsense and we're saying, no, it's not, you don't need the vaccine. This will keep you out of the hospital, particularly an experimental vaccine that turned out, as I know your listeners are very well versed on this, but it just turned out they just threw the scientific method out the window with putting that vaccine out on the market and still have. We are not speaking the truth yet about that and we had a full day of testimony and I believe you spoke at it in front of the Medical Affairs Committee for the Senate about all the pandemic preparedness back in September. If anybody wants to go back and watch the archive video of the Senate yeah your wife spoke at that In September.
Speaker 3:
I believe it was the 12th seven hours or eight hours of testimony and I've told people that this is what gets me. That was the best thing that this state has ever produced. We brought in experts from outside the state, but we also had great experts in the state talk about this and once you get into it you want to start taking notes and you want to watch it again. It was the best thing on TV. There was nothing that will capture your attention more than that, and that's coming from a government body with testimonies. It was so good.
Speaker 2:
It was powerful and it was riveting. There was testimony that was riveting good.
Speaker 3:
It was so good and it was riveting. There was testimony that was riveting. It was I was so proud of south carolina and I have. I have told so many people please watch that and go through it, and those that did have said, oh my gosh yeah they were amazed with it. Well, that that's just one issue, the medical freedom issue. And why I? Why I'm running, I want to, I, I want the medical freedom Senate bill. I believe it's 975. I hope that's the right number.
Speaker 2:
That's right, that's it, that's right.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I am so behind that and trying to and if I'm elected, that will be one of the first things I'll try to seek out to do as a representative is to move that thing forward and get it on the governor's desk to sign. And if he doesn't sign it, then shame on him and I will speak openly about that. This is something that has got to be signed. We have got to put some parameters on our government that are taking our freedoms away, and no one should have to take an experimental vaccine to keep a job. Are you kidding me? No one should have to do that, and the governor should not be able to command that either and use law enforcements to make you do these things. So they're they've got that whole thing now reorganizing DHEC and saying, oh, it's going to streamline and whatever, and saying, oh, it's going to streamline and whatever. It centralizes the power to the governor and not even the governor has the right to do that to the citizens of South Carolina on an experimental vaccine that has no immunity to it and the harm that it caused.
Speaker 3:
You know our state brought oh, I'm getting fired up now, dr Jackson, but I'm telling you what our state brought. You know the reason why they wanted to do these things and hospitals wanted to do all these things is because they got that federal dollar. They got these federal monies to come in and say, well, we have to check this box in order to get this federal money and stuff. But I'll tell you what the money that we're going to spend in the state of south carolina, our tax money, on the complications that were caused by that how short-sighted they were, because those costs are going to dwarf the money that we received from the government. It is going to cripple our medicine, our medical dollars, because it's being spent on folks that have had damages from clots, mental issues, you know all the things the dysrhythmias, the cancers, all the stuff that is coming out that this vaccine calls. And then we're still allowing a potentially contaminated vaccine to cross our borders and come into our state citizens.
Speaker 3:
We should be demanding right now that forensic analysis should be done on these vials to see if there's contamination of DNA that's harmful to our citizens, and not one more shot should be given until that's done. And the governor should have done this back in September when we presented all that information, but they're just sitting on it because it wasn't the political thing. I'm not about what's political. I'm about truth. Again, they're mishandling truth down thing. I'm not about what's political. I'm about truth. Again, they're mishandling truth down there. I'm about truth and about how we handle our treasure and they have done a poor job with that in the last few years and that's why I want to go down there and just get at it.
Speaker 2:
That's right, I hear you. And about what's best for our patients. You and I are physicians and we want to do what's best by our patients and the vaccine is not what's best for our patients and we've sowed the wind and we're going to reap the whirlwind. You know, and you're right, the vaccine. Every day, Dr DeVore, I have patients coming in my office telling me that they were so sorry they took the vaccine and it's still, two and a half years later, causing them arrhythmias, causing them brain fog, causing them physical fatigue. They still got the cough that won't go away. There's all manner of harms that are caused by the vaccine and they're still suffering with it and they're crying in their coffee because they are so sorry they took the vaccine and they still have physicians that are dismissing the harms and telling them that it's not because of the vaccine.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, they still say it's safe and they had. No, there was nothing scientific for them to be able to make a statement such as that, because they didn't give a length of time for any kind of autoimmune reactions and stuff. There was no, you cannot, that was a false statement. But our DHEC, our own state agency, put out that it was safe.
Speaker 3:
Yeah that's right and they should have said something to it. We don't know it's safe, it's the best we got and you and your doctor decide what y'all need to do, and that's where it should have come down to the doctor and the patient with truthful information for true informed consent and that route. But instead they did lockdowns. They did all this stuff to scare the bejeebies out of you and isolation, and then said well, you're going to have to get it if you want to travel. So they were taking away your freedoms, all sorts of things like that, and it was just a travesty.
Speaker 2:
You're right. All right, let's leave that issue and go to the next thing, thank you. I know you and I both are getting wound up on that.
Speaker 1:
All right, Now the the, the.
Speaker 2:
The state just passed this help not harm bill and and way back I think it was August of last year you and I were participating in an organization called South Carolina Physicians for Freedom, which is brand new, and you and I are part of organizing that group. And tell us a little bit about the inaugural meeting that we participated down in Charleston late last summer?
Speaker 3:
Oh, dr Jackson, that was great. Our mission with the South Carolina Physicians for Freedom really boils down again to some things I talked about with the COVID was that was our ethical obligation of informed consent and the sanctity of that doctor-patient relationship, not letting the government get in between that and not suppressing any free speech about things and misrepresentation of science. So that's sort of what is the basis of this South Carolina Physicians for Freedom. But we had a wonderful gathering. We had talked with our neighbors in North Carolina who had a similar society and one of the common threads at that time had to do with this transgender issue and we put together a meeting down there and our keynote speaker was Marion Grossman and she'd written a book called Lost in Transnation and we invited legislators to come down to Charleston and we met in the building next to I believe it was the Mills Hotel.
Speaker 3:
Anyway, it was one of these white classic Charleston buildings from the 1700s. We met on the second floor. The windows had that kind of wavy look from it. You know how the old windows Tommy Glass.
Speaker 3:
Yes, and when we sat in there there was a crowd of I don't know maybe 150 interested people along with the legislators Representative Adam Morgan was there and Senator State Senator Verdin and Corbyn and we had testimonies from parents who had gone through this transgender cult, as their children had been drug into that and then what physicians were telling them were their only options were puberty blockers and things or the kids were going to be suicidal, this stuff. And then we had this expert stand up, miriam Grossman, and give give the real truth, miriam Grossman, and give the real truth. And it was so eye-opening to us and the harm that all of this was doing our kids and what it was doing our families, and we needed to step up with some legislation to protect our families and protect our children. And what I've said at one of the senate meetings was in to give time for prayer, to work, um, and so after that meeting that was over a weekend was just I felt revolutionary sitting in that room. That's why I brought up the, the ambiance of that room you wanted to pound on the table and say you know yeah
Speaker 3:
this is. This is revolutionary what we were doing there. And sure enough, those senators they went back and put together the bill that helped not harm bill that I think passed just last week and we were instrumental in that. And we were instrumental in that the South Carolina Physicians for Freedom and the senators and all those wonderful parents who stood up in an open forum and gave their honest stories. And I'll tell you what. Here's another side note One of the parents at the dinner that we had that evening spoke and when she had given testimony in the House or the Senate prior to this meeting, some liberal senators or things sort of gave them a hard time. That's a nice thing to say. I think they were probably rude to them. She asked me or made the statement about physicians and them not being there.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:
And not to back them up. There was no physicians there to back them up and I looked at her and I was dead serious. I said that will never happen to you again. You will not feel alone. We're going to be there.
Speaker 3:
Wow, good for you, good for you, and that's what happened when they met again to go over this. I was there in the room, there were other doctors there and things like that, and the senators were moved with our presence, along with everybody else that was there to push this thing forward, this help, not harm bill. So listen, I don't, we don't have to be in the late. You know I'm still running for office, but grassroots societies like this are what we've got to get back. We've got to take ownership of our government back again. It's gotten so big and they think they're our bosses. We need to remind them that they work for us and we own them. The government doesn't. We own them. So these grassroots societies, you know we've got, you know, a number of them that that have stepped up to the plate in different issues in the state. It has made an effect and I think the major parties down there are a little scared of the grassroots.
Speaker 2:
Yeah Well, let me ask you one more question. We can run out of time. In about four or five minutes you told me a couple of stories of people that you meet while you're campaigning and the things that they say or ask you about government in Columbia. I just want our listeners to hear a couple of those stories.
Speaker 3:
Well, a lot of these stories or a lot of these events, when I'm talking to people, I'm trying to get people to know me or feel comfortable with me and things. And so one, karen and I, just this past weekend we went to a door. We didn't go to a door, he was out in his driveway, family was out there and stuff. I showed him my candidacy, my card, I gave him what I stand for and things. And he looks at the back of my card and he reads it. And then I'm expecting you know something favorable and he says I don't agree with any of this, so I won't be voting for you. And listen, that didn't offend me. As he walked away, I said no, no, no, I want you to tell me what. Let's talk, because I need to know what my constituents you would be one of my constituents I want to know what and your point on it.
Speaker 3:
And literally he says he was pro-choice and that he believed in CRT. Well, you know I didn't want to get into anything right there, but the way I handled it is, I didn't say anything. I let his words hang there for a minute. This is what he believes in and he had to say it to me out loud I believe in abortion and I believe in you know this oppressive and and you know things that in racial crt platform and I let it hang there and I said thank you and I just walked off. Um, I prayed to God that that man that night tossed and turned over what he said to me.
Speaker 3:
Yeah yeah, so that was one story. Another story is I went by and I was, by myself, talked to a lovely lady I'd met two years before. They were older, she and her husband. They were working in the yard, they had tractors, backhoes going. I'm telling you they were like almost 80 years old. So I'm knocking on the door again. Well, he'd had a lot of health problems over the last two years and was blind and had a colostomy and all this stuff. And I went in and she's telling me all this stuff, and I said you want to go pray with him Because she's talking politics? And I just stopped her and I said let's go pray with him. And so, sure enough, she opened the door, we went in, we had a word of prayer. It just made their day. I wasn't politicking. That meant more to her than anything I can do politically.
Speaker 2:
That's a pastoral visit, Dr. Bill.
Speaker 3:
And it just made my day to be able to do that. So those were two spectrums of different types of people that I meet on there. One guy was very confrontational. He's listed as a conservative but he didn't believe in this Constitution carry bill that was going on. He thinks it's going to turn south carolina into the wild west. And I said, well, it's passed and I can tell you all. I've seen one person open carry. I don't know, maybe you can tell me more others, but I've only seen one person open carry and that was up near sharp in rock hill outside of there. I said people, the government doesn't trust people to do the right thing. That's the problem with the government they don't trust the people They've got to make all these laws and stuff like that.
Speaker 3:
And I told him, I said the people of South Carolina, we're not going to be rude about things like this, you know, they just think it's going to turn into the Wild West. We just want to be able to protect ourselves if need be, and we need to have firearms to do that. Unfortunately, Exactly.
Speaker 2:
We run out of time, Dr DeBoer.
Speaker 1:
I'll tell you what you and I can talk.
Speaker 2:
We could talk for another 30 minutes, I'm sure. Well, let's tell the people now.
Speaker 3:
Tell them exactly where you run, in what district and tell them how they can get more information about you on the internet okay, yes, um, I'm running for the south carolina house, it's district 33, and you can, uh, you can go to um, you can contact me. I'll give you my number. It's 864-256-1289. And that's the phone number. Or you can go to my website. It's BillDeVoreForSC. Billdevoreforsccom. And that's the place you can get a little more information maybe about me, a little more information of other things, of what I stand for. You know, pro-life keeping bare arms. You know some of the things of what I stand for. You know, pro-life keeping bare arms. You know some of the things we've talked about medical freedom, cutting taxes. Oh, that's a whole other conversation we could have about the taxes and wasteful spending. We'll save that for another day.
Speaker 2:
I hear you. I hear you. If they flush with cash, they can also make a contribution to your campaign, right? Yes, on the website, that would be the best place, bill DeVore, for SCcom, that'd be the best place, all right, all right. Well, you're listening to More Than Medicine. I'm your host, dr Robert Jackson. My guest today is Dr Bill DeVore, who's running for the House. Dr DeVore, I'm so thankful to have you on my program.
Speaker 3:
Well, you know, I love talking with you, thank you.
Speaker 2:
All right. Well, thank you, sir, and we'll be back again next week and may the Lord bless you.
Speaker 1:
Real good Thank you for listening to this edition of More Than Medicine. For more information about the Jackson Family Ministry, dr Jackson's books, or to schedule a speaking engagement, go to their Facebook page, instagram or their webpage at jacksonfamilyministrycom. This podcast is produced by Bob Sloan Audio Production at bobsloancom.
