An Illinois judge has ruled against a woman who sought to force doctors at a hospital to treat her unvaccinated husband with an anti-parasite drug after the hospital warned that administering the so-called 'horse paste' would turn her husband into a 'guinea pig.'
Sangamon County Circuit Judge Adam Giganti denied Anita Clouse's request for an injunction against Memorial Medical Center on Monday, as her 61-year-old husband, Randy Clouse, is facing his sixth week in the hospital with COVID.
Four of those weeks have been spent on a ventilator, the State Journal-Register reports.
Ralph Lorigo, an attorney for Anita, said Clouse's condition is now dire and ivermectin could be a last-ditch effort to save him.
'She should have a right to try to save her husband,' Lorigo said of Anita.
Lawyers representing the Springfield hospital administrators, however, wrote on Friday that Clouse is 'presently improving.'
'His treating physicians believe administration of ivermectin will likely result in kidney and lung damage, which can lead to organ failure and death,' they wrote.
'Mr. Clouse already has weakened liver and kidney function [and] ivermectin is more likely to push these organs over the edge.'
Randy Clouse, 61, has been on a ventilator for the past four weeks, and his wife, Anita, says he is fighting for his life
Anita, right, filed an injunction against the hospital her husband is at in an effort to force doctors to provide him with ivermectin, a deworming medicine
Attorneys for Memorial Medical Center in Springfield (pictured), however, argued the drug would do more harm than good and would turn Clouse into a 'guinea pig'
The attorneys for Memorial called the drug 'unproven and potentially unsafe,' and slammed Dr. Alan Bain, a Chicago-based telemedicine practitioner who prescribed the drug for Clouse.
They said he 'chose to ignore widespread medical advice on the use of ivermectin in COVID-19 patients,' and 'wants to make Mr. Clouse a guinea pig.'
Bain had never examined Clouse before prescribing the drug, the lawyers said, and is not his primary care doctor.
In response, Bain testified that he saw a video of Clouse suffering at the hospital, and noted he has not personally seen 30 of the 40 patients across the state whom he has treated with the drug.
But, he said, he has seen 'patients either get better because of ivermectin, or the drug has given "signals" that it is causing some benefit,' the State Journal-Register reports.
Giganti then replied he was surprised the doctor was recommending the drug, even after it was revealed that the doctors found a cyst on his liver.
Family members and friends have set up two online fundraisers for the family, as Clouse remains in the ICU. His medical bills are being paid by Medicaid
Clouse tested positive for the virus on July 21 and was admitted to the hospital the next day. By July 24, he was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit and on August 3 he was put on a ventilator.
He started receiving dialysis for the cyst on his liver on August 10.
Anita has argued that his chances of surviving are less than 30 percent, court documents obtained by the State Journal-Register said, alleging Memorial refused to administer ivermectin 'despite the minimal downside and side effects,' and even after she offered to release Memorial and any of its doctors from liability.
Dr. Alan Bain prescribed ivermectin to Clouse although he had never examined Clouse personally
She said they decided not to get vaccinated because they were concerned they would become sicker from the vaccine than from COVID, and she is still unconvinced about the positives of the COVID vaccine.
Instead, Anita said, her husband told her before he became sick that if he were ever to contract the virus, he would want the human version of ivermectin - which they had used on German Shepherds they breed - as a treatment.
'There's a lot of people dying, and it doesn't need to happen,' Anita said, according to the State Journal-Register. 'They're using ivermectin all over the world.'
She said her husband is now unable to speak, uncomfortable and may be on a ventilator for the rest of his life if he survives.
She said Tuesday she was 'crushed' by the ruling, but was not surprised 'given Springfield and how politically connected it is,' claiming the hospital's political clout influenced Giganti's decision.
She does not plan to appeal, however, as she cannot afford it.
Her friends and family have started GoFundMe accounts to help with household expenses, as her husband's medical expenses are covered by Medicaid.
The GoFundMe fundraisers have raised more than $10,000 as of Tuesday.
is normally used to treat people and livestock for parasitic worms, but in recent weeks anti-vaxxers have pushed the drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment
The CDC is urging people against taking it, claiming there is no proof that it works against COVID, but in cases like Jeffrey Smith's, his wife said she will try a drug that other scientists do believe is effective in order to save his life
Ivermectin is normally used to treat people and livestock for parasitic worms, but in recent weeks anti-vaxxers have pushed the drug as a potential COVID-19 treatment.
It has been embraced by doctors in Latin America and in the US, nearly 88,000 prescriptions for it were written in a single week.
Some Americans have now turned to farm supply stores to obtain the drug, resulting in overdoses, and prompting the Food and Drug Administration to issue a warning against using the drug on August 21, when they tweeted: 'You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously y'all. Stop it.'
Some initial research on ivermectin is underway, with six active clinical trials studying the affects of the drug on the COVID-19 virus being conducted in the United States, according to a search of U.S. National Library of Medicine's website. Most of the studies have called for it to be used with other drugs.
More information is still needed but the National Institutes of Health said there is 'insufficient evidence to recommend either for or against the use of ivermectin for the treatment of COVID-19.'
Early studies which had given some people encouragement were removed from the sites where they appeared because the authors said they weren't ready for peer review.
And amid a spike in prescriptions for it, the FDA and CDC have warned against it and say there is no proof it can help battle COVID-19 but can cause severe side effects.
Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham promoted the drug's use as an alternative COVID-19 treatment.
Rand Paul blamed scientists 'deranged' hatred of Trump for not studying ivermectin as a potential COVID treatment despite existing studies that failed to conclude efficacy
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul said on Monday that the drug would never be properly considered because it has been promoted by the right, and the CDC and FDA despite them and former President Donald Trump.
'The hatred for Trump deranged these people so much, that they're unwilling to objectively study it.
'So someone like me that’s in the middle on it, I can’t tell you because they will not study ivermectin.
They will not study hydroxychloroquine without the taint of their hatred for Donald Trump,' he said.
In June, Sen Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, had his YouTube account suspended for posting a video recommending viewers to take ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for the virus.
Last week, Mississippi officials reported that 70 percent of recent poison control calls in the state were because of misuse of the dewormer.
Texas has reported a sharp spike in poison calls as well when compared to last year.
In August 2020, Texas reported two poison control calls related to ivermectin, reported WFAA.
This August, the state received 55 calls, a 27-fold increase.
Additionally, Texas Poison Control recorded 23 ivermectin poisoning cases from January to August 2020, compared to 150 this year - a 552 percent increase.
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