Ohio hospital doesn’t have to give ivermectin as COVID-19 treatment, judge says

West Chester (Ohio) Hospital doesn’t have to use ivermectin to treat COVID-19, a judge ruled Sept. 6, according to NBC News. The ruling reverses a previous court order requiring the hospital to administer the anti-parasite drug, which the FDA has warned against using to treat COVID-19.

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Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Michael Oster Jr. ruled that ivermectin isn’t an effective treatment for COVID-19. He wrote that there “was no doubt that the medical and scientific communities do not support the use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19,” echoing several prominent medical groups that have opposed its use to treat COVID-19.

A judge had ordered West Chester Hospital on Aug. 23 to administer the drug to a COVID-19 patient in the intensive care unit, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. The order directed the hospital to provide the patient with 30 milligrams of ivermectin each day for three weeks.

A spokesperson for West Chester Hospital’s operator, Cincinnati-based UC Health, told The Cincinnati Enquirer, “At UC Health, we respect the expertise of our clinicians and appreciate the scientific rigor used to develop treatments, medications and other therapies. We do not believe that hospitals or clinicians should be ordered to administer medications and/or therapies, especially unproven medications and/or therapies, against medical advice.”

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