TX Judge Rules Hospitals Can't Be Forced To Use Ivermectin

Austin TX

19 November, 2021

1:01 PM

Description

AUSTIN, TX — A Texas appeals court in Fort Worth ruled Thursday that a hospital can't be forced to treat a COVID-19 patient in its care with ivermectin, a drug normally used to eliminate parasitic worms. The ruling comes after a Fort Worth woman sued Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth to demand the treatment for her husband, Jason Jones, a 48-year-old law enforcement official. Jones was hospitalized at the Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth in late September after testing positive for the coronavirus. He was put in a medically induced coma and a ventilator on Oct. 7, according to court documents. Live in Austin? Click here to subscribe to our free breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox and mobile devices. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and download our free mobile app on Android or iPhone. Erin Jones, his wife, asked Huguley to give her husband ivermectin after consulting with Mary Talley Bowden, a physician not affiliated with the hospital. Despite her pleas, Huguley staff refused to administer ivermectin, and Erin Jones filed suit. Bowden, who recently lost physician privileges at another hospital after it said she spread "misinformation" about the coronavirus, prescribed the drug, according to the Washington Post. Thursday's ruling overturns a trial court decision that gave Bowden temporary privileges at Huguley. "...Judges are not doctors. We are not empowered to decide whether a particular medication should be administered, or whether a particular doctor should be granted ICU privileges. Our role is to interpret and apply the law as written," Chief Justice Bonnie Sudderth said. "Although we may empathize with a wife's desire to try anything and everything to save her husband, we are bound by the law, and the law in this case does not allow judicial intervention." As ivermectin gained traction with some Americans this summer as a treatment for COVID-19, government agencies advised people against it. You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021 The Food and Drug Administration has not approved or authorized ivermectin for coronavirus treatment, though there is widespread interest in the drug on the fringes of the internet and in some right-wing circles. "You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it," the Food and Drug Administration tweeted in August. So far, the guidance has not stopped people from seeking out the drug as a potential cure. The husband of a Florida teacher who died last week from the disease had unsuccessfully tried to get a Palm Beach court to force doctors to treat her with the drug. "I'm hoping they name a law after her so no one has to go through this," Ryan Drock told The Associated Press. "If she had walked out of the hospital she could have had the medication." Meanwhile, owners of livestock who had been frequent buyers of ivermectin before the pandemic have been finding it hard to buy the drug, the Washington Post reports. At this time, federal regulators are reviewing two promising COVID-19 antiviral pills that can be prescribed and taken at home to prevent the worst outcomes.