Ohio judge reverses decision and rules that a hospital can't be forced to use ivermectin to treat a patient with COVID-19

• An Ohio judge reversed a decision that ordered a hospital to prescribe ivermectin to a COVID-19 patient.
• Judge Michael Oster Jr. wrote that the medical and scientific communities don't support the use of ivermectin for COVID-19 treatment.
• Previously, a county judge ruled that a hospital had to give a patient ivermectin based on his wife's request.

A judge ruled on Monday that an Ohio hospital can't be forced to give patients ivermectin to treat COVID-19, reported several outlets. The ruling reverses an order another judge passed in August that sided with a patient's wife who wanted her husband to be administered with the deworming drug.

Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster Jr. wrote in his September 6 decision that "the medical and scientific communities do not support the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19," per NBC News.

Oster cited advisories from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which warn that ivermectin is not proven to treat COVID-19 and can have serious side effects.

"While this court is sympathetic to the plaintiff and understands the idea of wanting to do anything to help her loved one, public policy should not and does not support allowing physicians to try 'any' type of treatment on human beings," he said.

He added that the court was not deciding if ivermectin will ultimately be effective or useful as COVID-19 treatment, per the Ohio Capital Journal.

"However, based upon the evidence, it has not been shown to be effective at this juncture," he said.

"The studies that tend to give support to ivermectin have had inconsistent results, limitations to the studies, were open label studies, were of low quality or low certainty, included small sample sizes, various dosing regiments, or have been so riddled with issues that the study was withdrawn," Oster said.

The patient involved in the case, Jeffrey Smith, 51, contracted COVID-19 in early July. His wife, Julie Smith, asked the court on August 20 for an emergency order to have ivermectin prescribed to her husband.

Both the Smiths are unvaccinated against COVID-19, testified Julie Smith, per the Ohio Capital Journal. In her testimony, Smith said the vaccines are "experimental" and that she didn't trust them.

On August 23, Butler County Judge Greg Howard ordered West Chester Hospital to honor Julie Smith's request for ivermectin to be given to her husband, who is on a ventilator and remains in the ICU.

Howard ruled that 30 mg of ivermectin be administered to Smith every day for three weeks by Dr. Fred Washgul, a licensed physician from Dayton, Ohio. Washgul, who is not board certified, cofounded a nonprofit called Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which advocates for the use of ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment.

By the time Oster's ruling came in, Smith had already been given 13 days ivermectin doses, and the hospital is set to take him off the ventilator, said Ralph Lorigo, an attorney representing Julie Smith, per 10WBNS News.

"Julie has won this case; I don't care what this judge says," said Lorigo. "We are believers he's going to survive because of ivermectin."