US judge orders hospital to treat Covid patient with ivermectin

Washington: A US woman has won a court order for a hospital in Ohio to treat her husband, who is on a ventilator with Covid-19, with the antiparasitic medicine ivermectin, as demand surges for the unproven coronavirus treatment.

The case is one of several nationwide where courts have sided with litigants seeking to use the drug, despite scant evidence of its effectiveness against Covid and a rise in calls to poison centers as a result of misuse, including ingesting livestock-strength formulations. Judge Gregory Howard ordered West Chester Hospital, located outside Cincinnati, to treat Julie Smith’s husband Jeffrey Smith with ivermectin, according to an order filed August 23.