Man whose wife sued Butler Co. Hospital for ivermectin treatment dies of COVID-19 – WHIO TV 7 and WHIO Radio

BUTLER COUNTY – A Butler County man whose wife sued a West Chester hospital to force doctors to give him ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 has died, according to our press partners at WCPO-TV in Cincinnati.

>> PREVIOUS COVER: Butler County judge bans forcing hospital to administer ivermectin as COVID-19 treatment

Jeffery Smith, of the Township of Fairfield. died on September 25 after battling COVID-19, the station reported, citing Webster Funeral Home in Fairfield.

Smith’s case gained national attention after his wife, Julie, first sued West Chester Hospital at the University of Cincinnati Health after being admitted with COVID-19. Despite warnings from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical experts, Julie requested a court order for Jeffery to be treated with the drug.

>> PREVIOUS: Judge Orders West Chester Hospital To Continue Ivermectin Treatment As Prescribed By Local Doctor

On August 23, Butler County Judge Gregory Howard ordered the hospital to give Jeffrey, who was on a ventilator, ivermectin. After two days of hearing in early September, a second Butler County judge dismissed the preliminary injunction that required the hospital to administer the drug.

In his ruling, Judge Michael Oster wrote: “Scientific communities do not support the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID19,” the station reported.

The legal question was whether an injunction should be granted “to force a hospital to honor the prescription of a physician who has not seen a patient and has no privileges in said hospital, thereby forcing the hospital to administer of ivermectin to a patient when doctors at the hospital, FDA, CDC and WADA do not believe ivermectin should be a recommended way to treat COVID-19, ”according to court records.

Ivermectin is a drug, approved by the FDA, to treat infections caused by parasites. The drug is commonly used as a dewormer for livestock.

According to the FDA, for humans, “Ivermectin tablets are approved in very specific doses to treat certain parasitic worms.” The FDA has not licensed or approved ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 and said it “has not been shown to be safe or effective.”

Julie testified at one of the court hearings saying she wanted her husband to be treated with the drug because it gave her hope.

“I didn’t want to sit there and let him die,” Julie said in her testimony, according to WCPO.

Jeffery was originally prescribed the drug and treatment by Dr. Fred Wagshul, instructor at Wright State University and pulmonologist at Centerville.

“The ivermectin that has been prescribed is for human use and is approved by the FDA to treat internal and external parasites,” the court records read. “However, Dr Wagshul prescribed the drug without seeing Jeff Smith and has no privileges at West Chester Hospital.”

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