YORK, Pennsylvania—Keith Smith received the first of three doses of ivermectin Monday, while being treated for COVID-19 in the intensive care unit at UPMC Memorial Hospital; the York, Pennsylvania hospital objected to the treatment, but Keith’s wife Darla Smith got a court order to allow it.
“Ivermectin has been prescribed for human use for 35 years and has been used over 4 billion times around the globe,” Buffalo, New York attorney Ralph Lorigo, who handled the Smith case, told The Epoch Times. “It is an essential drug. The CDC recommends every refugee that comes into the country take ivermectin. That shows how safe it is.”
Ivermectin is approved for the treatment of parasitic diseases but has been successful in treating COVID-19 patients, although COVID-19 treatment is considered off-label use. It is legal for doctors to prescribe drugs for off-label uses.
Since his first ivermectin case in January, in which an 80-year-old woman went from near death and on a ventilator, to celebrating her 81st birthday healthy and at home, Lorigo has taken on over 100 cases of patients’ families fighting with hospitals over the right to try ivermectin.
“Things are so bad that I had 37 inquiries over the weekend from people desperately seeking treatment for a loved one in the hospital, who is in terrible shape. The hospital has done its protocol, and it didn’t work.”
Often the protocol is another drug, Remdesivir, and if the patient’s health declines, being intubated—that is, put on a ventilator.
“When you are placed on a ventilator, it means they have done their protocol and now it is wait-and-see. Your chances of getting better once on a ventilator diminish substantially,” Lorigo said. “At the beginning of COVID, if you went on the ventilator, you had an 80–90 percent chance of not surviving. It’s better now, but being on a ventilator can harm lungs. As you stay on that ventilator, your chances of survival diminish.”
By Beth Brelje
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