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Ohio judge slammed for ordering hospital to treat Covid-19 patient with Ivermectin

The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have warned Americans against use of Ivermectin for Covid

A Butler County Common Pleas judge, Gregory Howard ruled in favor of a woman seeking to force a hospital to administer ivermectin — an animal dewormer, that federal regulators have warned against using in Covid-19 patients, to her husband after several weeks in the ICU fighting Covid. Judge Howard ordered West Chester Hospital to treat Jeffrey Smith, 51, with Ivermectin. The order compels the hospital to provide Smith with 30mg of Ivermectin on a daily basis for three weeks. The ruling was given on August 23.

The said lawsuit was filed by Jeffrey Smith's wife of 24 years, Julie Smith. Jeffrey tested positive for Covid-19 on July 9. He got admitted to the ICU on July 15 and was intubated and placed on a ventilator. Jeffrey developed a secondary infection later, he's still fighting as of August 23, reports say. The lawsuit doesn't mention if the patient was vaccinated or not. Such instances only go on to highlight the skepticism people have against masking up and Covid vaccinations, despite CDC urging that the public opt for them to prevent spread of the airborne virus. There have been fatalities as well when people ignored this warning out of reluctance or sheer obstinance. Haley Richardson,  pregnant Alabama nurse, 32, died of Covid-19 this month after refusing the vaccine. Texas anti-masker, Caleb Wallace, 30, died of Covid this month after battling the virus for weeks.  He reportedly refused to get tested and treated himself with Vitamin C, zinc, aspirin, and ivermectin. 

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Julie Smith consulted with Dr Fred Wagshul, an Ohio physician over the use of Ivermectin to be used in the treatment of her husband. Dr Washgul, who her lawsuit described as "one of the foremost experts on using Ivermectin in treating Covid-19", prescribed the drug, but the hospital refused to administer it. Julie Smith's attorney, Ralph Lorigo is the chairman of New York’s Erie County Conservative Party. He was not immediately available for a comment on the case.

Dr Wagshul said in an interview that the science behind Ivermectin’s use in Covid-19 patients is "irrefutable" and blamed the CDC and FDA for engaging in a "conspiracy" to block its use to protect the FDA’s emergency use authorization for Covid-19 vaccines. It is unclear at the moment why the hospital chose to didn’t mount any defence against the lawsuit under the new law passed in the state budget that grants health care providers the "freedom to decline to perform" any service which violates their "conscience", as informed by moral, ethical or religious beliefs.

What is Ivermectin?

Ivermectin was originally developed to deworm livestock animals before doctors started using it against parasitic diseases in humans. It’s used to treat head lice, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and others. The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, both have warned Americans against the use of Ivermectin to treat Covid-19. According to the authorities, it’s unproven as a treatment, and large doses of it can be dangerous and cause serious harm. The CDC also warned that the reports of poisoning related to the use of Ivermectin have increased threefold this year.

'Are judges allowed to overrule the FDA?'

Judge Gregory Howard's ruling attracted a lot of criticism. One comment read, "And the Butler county judge earned their medical degree from where exactly?" One user wrote, "That judge should be stripped of his ability to practice law, and physicians that treat their patients with horse dewormer should be stripped of their ability to practice medicine. Simple." Another tweet read, "So bizarre. Even the company that makes ivermectin says not to use it for covid. Are judges allowed to overrule the FDA? It’s not like they were granted an emergency use authorization" One user tweeted, "This is so crackbrained and irresponsible. If JUDGE Howard wanted to spend his free time playing Doctor, then he should’ve gone to medical school."