WASHINGTON, D.C. – The FLCCC, a group of highly published, world-renowned critical care physicians and scholars, is deeply troubled by the ruling of the Wisconsin Supreme Court on the lawsuit against Aurora Health Care, Inc. for refusing patients’ access to a safe and potentially lifesaving treatment for COVID-19. We are also disturbed by the highly biased media coverage of the court’s decision and the media’s continued willful ignorance of the long safety record of ivermectin and the extensive data supporting its efficacy as a treatment for COVID-19.
“I am deeply troubled by the court’s decision and the impact it might have on other cases where hospitals have denied patients’ access to treatment,” said Paul E. Marik, M.D., FCCM, FCCP, founding member of the FLCCC and former Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
“As critical care doctors, we believe that patients, especially those in critical condition, should have access to all possible treatments. Hospitals should not be allowed to deny potentially life-saving treatment and leave families to watch their loved ones suffer, knowing they could have been helped.”
Many media reports on the court’s decision are highly inaccurate and seem to use the ruling to further promote disinformation about ivermectin. Journalists continue to spread the myth that ivermectin is dangerous without critically examining the scientific and clinical evidence. This week most mainstream outlets are reposting the Associate Press report on the case that incorrectly positions ivermectin as a treatment primarily for animals that the FDA warns could be “fatal” while never mentioning the 93 controlled trials – 43 of them randomized controlled trials – that showed ivermectin is highly effective in treating COVID-19 with little to no reported side effects. These trials amount to hundreds of thousands of patients successfully treated with no severe side effects, consistent with the WHO’s finding that ivermectin ranks higher in safety than Tylenol or aspirin. It is unconscionable that a hospital charged with the care and well-being of its patients would deny access to such treatment.
The media often inserts partisan politics into what should be a discussion of scientific data to deflect from the need for critical thinking. The scientific evidence supporting ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19 has nothing to do with political affiliation and everything to do with public health.
“The case was not about ivermectin or politics, but the mainstream media is using the ruling as an opportunity to malign the Nobel Prize-winning drug that has been safely used for more than 40 years in humans,” said Pierre Kory, M.D., M.P.A., president and chief medical officer of the FLCCC. “The Court ruling is based entirely on how the trial court issued the Order to allow this patient access to ivermectin. The science of ivermectin was not on trial, but the media behaved as if it was. This is absurd.”
The lawsuit, Gahl v. Aurora Health, was brought by Allen Gahl on behalf of his uncle, John Zingsheim, who was denied access to ivermectin in October 2021 after the hospital had placed Mr. Zingsheim on a ventilator in the ICU without offering further effective treatment for COVID-19 or hope for survival. Mr. Gahl initiated the Waukesha County Circuit Court lawsuit, which ultimately ordered the hospital to allow his uncle’s doctor to administer the ivermectin treatment. The hospital, however, appealed the court’s decision to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals District II, which reversed the lower court’s ruling, opining that the lower court had no authority to compel the hospital to allow the use of ivermectin, even if administered by the patient’s outside doctor. The Amos Center for
Justice & Liberty filed a petition for review which the Wisconsin Supreme Court granted in September and ruled on this week.
The FLCCC filed an Amicus brief in February that can be found here: https://covid19criticalcare.com/flccc-files-amicus-brief-in-gahl-v-aurora-health/
About the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance
The FLCCC Alliance was organized in March 2020 by a group of highly published, world renowned critical care physicians and scholars with the academic support of allied physicians from around the world. FLCCC’s goal is to research and develop lifesaving protocols for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 in all stages of illness including the I-RECOVER protocols for “Long COVID” and Post Vaccine Syndrome. For more information: www.FLCCC.net
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