BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio —
A Butler County judge has ordered a hospital to treat a COVID-19 patient with the anti-parasite drug Ivermectin, a drug known to be used to treat or prevent parasites in animals, despite the CDC warning against it.
Judge Gregory Howard issued the order last week after a complaint was made by a woman named Julie Smith, on behalf of her 51-year-old husband, Jeffrey Smith, who has been in the ICU at West Chester Hospital battling COVID-19.
In the complaint, Julie stated that her husband had been on a ventilator for 19 days after attempts to use treatments like Remdesivir, plasma and steroids.
That’s when she stated she sought medical advice from their physician Dr. Fred Wagshul. In the complaint, it states Wagshul supported the use of Ivermectin and prescribed it to him. After the hospital refused to administer the treatment, Julie filed the complaint.
In the complaint, she states that she has signed a full release, relieving the hospital from any and all liability concerning the administration of the Ivermectin.
In the order, Howard stated that after reviewing the complaint filed by Julie on behalf of her husband, he is ordering the hospital to administer the drug to Jeffrey.
The judge said the drug will be administered in accordance with Dr. Wagshul’s, prescription, which is a 30-mg dose of Ivermectin daily for 21 days.
Ivermectin isn’t the first medicine that has garnered the hopes of curious or vaccine-hesitant people as a potential treatment for COVID-19, but it’s the one drawing potential patients to farm supply and pet stores across the country.
The FDA has been warning against the use of ivermectin for treatment of COVID-19 since March. The drug is used to treat parasitic infections, primarily in livestock, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently cautioned about an increase in reports to poison centers of severe illness caused by the drug.
In a CDC health advisory issued Thursday, the agency said the use of Ivermectin can result in “gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Overdoses are associated with hypotension and neurologic effects such as decreased consciousness, confusion, hallucinations, seizures, coma, and death.”
While there are human uses for the drug, the Food and Drug Administration has not approved ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19 in humans and the drug is not an anti-viral medication.
