A US lawsuit may force an Ohio hospital to give one of its COVID patients Ivermectin, the anti-parasitic drug that has been embraced as a coronavirus treatment.
According to The Independent, last week a county judge ruled that a hospital had to prescribe the drug according to the wishes of the wife of a man who has been battling COVID since July.
Jeffrey Smith, 51, tested positive for COVID on 9 July, and the order mandates that the West Chester Hospital give him the drug on the orders of his personal doctor.
The lawsuit doesnʼt specify whether he has been vaccinated against COVID-19, but state data suggests it is likely he hasnʼt had the jab, since 20,500 of the 21,000 Ohioans in the hospital since January with COVID were unvaccinated.
The US Food and Drug Administration has warned against taking Ivermectin for COVID, cautioning it could cause serious health effects.
Lawsuits in Chicago and Buffalo, New York, have sought similar results to force hospitals to use Ivermectin.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Fact File: Making sense of the Ivermectin controversy
Ivermectin significantly reduces COVID-19 mortality risk — FLCC meta-analysis
Ivermectin: Studies come thick and fast; Regulators remain unmoved