A Florida schoolteacher
passed away from COVID-19 complications following an unsuccessful lawsuit from her family pushing for ivermectin treatment.
Tamara Drock, 47, passed away on Friday, after spending 12 weeks at the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Southeast Florida. During Drock's hospitalization, her husband, Ryan Drock, sued the hospital in an attempt to force doctors to treat her with ivermectin, a livestock-deworming drug that has been
pushed by cranks as a treatment for the virus COVID-19.
The FDA has not approved the drug for treatment of coronavirus — not surprising, given that coronavirus is not an intestinal parasite — and they shared that
early trials were not promising for ivermectin as an effective treatment for COVID-19. Still, Ryan Drock attempted to force the hospital's hand with a lawsuit that was rejected last month.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge James Nutt tossed the lawsuit, fearing a dangerous precedent should he step in to make a doctor perform a treatment they feel is unsafe.
The Palm Beach Post reported that a compromise fell apart, with a doctor offering to dose Drock with a lower amount of ivermectin than the family approved. Ryan Drock said he's going to push for legislation that would force treatment with unapproved drugs in the future.
“I’m hoping they name a law after her so no one has to go through this,” Drock told the
Post. “If she had walked out of the hospital she could have had the medication.”
Florida's Poison Control Center noted a massive uptick last year in the number of people
nearly poisoning themselves with ivermectin last year. The drug is sold in feed stores at a dosage intended for horses and it appears
more than 60 would-be pharmacists got their own dosage wrong.
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