An Auburn man’s family is suing Memorial Health Systems to allow for a controversial treatment for COVID-19.
The family of 61 year old Randy Clouse of Auburn is suing Memorial to allow for the administration of the drug Ivermectin to be use to treat Clouse’s COVID infection.
Ivermectin is an FDA-approved medication that’s used to treat parasites in both humans and animals. The FDA has not approved the drug to be used for treatment of COVID-19 though, and according to their website from March of this year. The World Health Organization also said in March that the drug can only be used within clinical trials still under way and that’s effectiveness against COVID-19 is inconclusive.
Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida’s Poison Control Centers have all recently reported an increase in calls about negative reactions from people that have taken ivermectin doses meant for animals on their own time.
According to WICS, the Clouse family is being represented by Buffalo, New York-based attorney Ralph Lorigo found a Sangamon County doctor to prescribe the medication and a local judge has sided with the family to allow the drug to be used. According to the report, Clouse has been on a ventilator for the past 25-30 days and the hospital has followed their sets of protocol to treat the disease. The hospital has refused to follow the court order and the lawsuit will be heading to court. Memorial has not issued a response about the case due to pending litigation.