Ohio judge orders hospital to treat COVID patient with deworming drug ivermectin



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An Ohio judge has ordered a hospital to treat a COVID-19 patient with the controversial livestock drug, ivermectin.

Butler County Common Plea Judge Gregory Howard rendered the ruling last week, forcing West Chester Hospital to treat Jeffrey Smith with the 30 milligrams of the drug a day for three weeks.

Smith’s wife Julie Smith had sued the hospital after refusing to administer ivermectin, an animal dewormer that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have against warned against treating COVID-19.

Her husband tested positive for the coronavirus on July 9, according to court documents. He was hospitalized and admitted to intensive care on July 15. On August 1, he was intubated and placed on a ventilator.

Julie Smith said she had started researching other treatments and found cases where patients had been given ivermectin.

She contacted her husband’s doctor, Dr Fred Wagshul – described in the lawsuit as an “expert in the use of ivermectin in the treatment of Covid-19” – who prescribed the drug. The hospital then refused to administer it.

“My husband is on the verge of death, he has no other choice,” she said. “With absolutely nothing to lose, with little or no risk, and with the defendant likely to start palliative care, there is no reason why he should refuse Dr Wagshul’s order and prescription to administer ivermectin to their common patient. “

Howard ruled in his favor on Aug. 23, saying the hospital would “immediately administer” ivermectin to Smith, 51.

News week contacted West Chester Hospital for comment on the judge’s decision, but did not receive a response until publication.

Ivermectin is approved by the FDA for use in humans to treat certain parasitic worm infections. But federal regulators say there is no evidence it works on COVID-19 and warn it can be dangerous in high doses.

“People who take excessively high doses of ivermectin above the dosage recommended by the FDA may experience toxic effects,” the CDC said. The effects range from nausea and vomiting to seizures, coma and death.

The FDA said it had received “multiple reports of patients who required medical support and were hospitalized after self-medicating with ivermectin intended for horses.”

But prescriptions for ivermectin have increased dramatically in recent weeks, the CDC said.

“Since early July 2021, outpatient ivermectin distribution has started to increase rapidly again, reaching over 88,000 prescriptions in the week ending August 13, 2021. This is a 24-fold increase from the line-up. pre-pandemic basis, ”the agency reported.

Calls to poison control centers regarding ivermectin exposures have increased amid the country’s latest wave of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. Officials in Florida, Mississippi and Nevada have reported an increase in calls about the dewormer drug.

Ohio judge orders hospital to use ivermectin
An Ohio judge has ordered a hospital to treat a COVID-19 patient with the controversial livestock drug, ivermectin. Above, a health worker shows a bottle of ivermectin as part of a study at the Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases Studies in Cali, Colombia on July 21, 2020.
Luis Robayo / Getty Images

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