Last
week,
the
ACLU
of
Arkansas
sued
the
Washington
County
Detention
Center
and
its
jail
doctor
on
behalf
of
four
incarcerated
plaintiffs
who
claim
they
were
unknowingly
treated
with
Ivermectin
while
suffering
from
coronavirus.
Dr.
Robert
Karas
provides
medical
services
to
the
WCDC
through
his
business,
Karas
Correctional
Health,
PLLC.
He
also
appears
to
spend
a
lot
of
time
on
Facebook,
where
he
boasted
of
his
success
treating
COVID
patients
in
his
private
practice
using
the
“Ivermectin
protocol.”
The
CDC
and
FDA
have
both
warned
that
the
anti-parasitic
drug
Ivermectin,
AKA
“horse
paste,”
is
not
an
appropriate
treatment
for
coronavirus.
Nevertheless
Dr.
Karas
posted
as
recently
as
December
24,
2021,
that
he
used
the
same
course
of
Ivermectin
to
treat
WCDC
inmates
as
prescribed
in
his
private
practice,
with
“[t]he
slight
difference
between
jail
protocol
and
the
clinic
regimen
being
that
we
kept
the
.2-.4
mg/kg
Ivermectin
dosing
on
our
jail
patients.”
Which
is
how
these
inmates
found
out
that
they
were
being
treated
with
horse
dewormer,
not
“vitamins,”
“antibiotics,”
and
“steroids”
as
they
had
been
told.
According
to
the
complaint,
Dr.
Karas
neglected
some
the
finer
points
of
informed
consent.
To
wit,
he
allegedly
lied
about
what
he
was
giving
them
and
failed
to
tell
them
about
the
side
effects,
which
include
nausea,
vomiting,
vision
issues,
diarrhea,
bloody
stools,
and
stomach
cramps.
And
indeed,
the
plaintiffs
did
suffer
these
side
effects,
particularly
since
they
were
being
given
doses
well
above
those
recommended
for
the
drug’s
intended
use
in
treatment
of
intestinal
parasites
or
lice.
From
the
complaint,
which
was
first
reported
by
CBS
News:
“High
doses”
is
no
hyperbole.
By
way
of
example,
prior
to
receiving
the
drug,
Plaintiff
Edrick
Wooten
was
recorded
on
August
22,
2021,
as
being
6’1”
and
weighing
158
pounds
(72
kg).
At
his
size,
the
approved
dosage
of
Ivermectin
to
combat
worms
(one
of
the
approved
uses
in
humans)
is
0.2
mg/kg
in
a
single
dose,
which
given
his
size,
is
14
mg.
Mr.
Wooten,
however,
received
48
mg
over
a
period
of
four
days,
or
3.4
times
the
approved
dosage.
27.Similarly,
Plaintiff
Dayman
Blackburn
was
recorded
on
August
21,
2021,
as
being
6’1”
and
weighing
191
pounds
(86.6
kg).
At
his
size,
the
approved
dosage
to
combat
worms
is
0.2
mg/kg
in
a
single
dose,
which
is
17
mg.
According
to
Mr.
Blackburn’s
medical
records,
however,
he
was
prescribed
36
mg
of
the
medicine
on
August
22
by
the
Karas
Defendants,
followed
by
24
mg
a
day
from
August
23-August
25.
That
dosage,
totaling
108
mg,
is
nearly
6.3
times
the
approved
dosage.
The
plaintiffs
allege
that
the
defendants
“attempted
to
obtain
‘retroactive’
consents
to
medical
treatment
from
detainees,
including
for
the
use
of
Ivermectin”
once
the
deception
was
discovered.
Then
the
defendants
added
insult
to
injury
by
making
the
plaintiffs
pay
for
their
own
medical
examinations
by
Dr.
Karas’s
company
to
determine
if
they’d
been
harmed
by
the
treatment
they
hadn’t
consented
to.
And
to
top
it
all
off,
Dr.
Karas
may
have
had
a
financial
incentive
to
prescribe
these
drugs
in
high
doses
since
he
sometimes
filled
prescriptions
for
WCDC.
It’s
not
a
great
look.
The
plaintiffs
argue
that
their
due
process
right
to
voluntary
and
informed
consent
was
violated
and
that
their
equal
protection
rights
were
violated,
since
they
were
treated
differently
from
Dr.
Karas’s
non-incarcerated
patients.
They
seek
injunctive
relief
and
medical
treatment
by
another
provider.
Preferably
one
who
doesn’t
brag
on
Facebook
about
violating
CDC
guidance.
Edrick
v.
Helder
[Docket
via
Court
Listener]
Liz
Dye lives
in
Baltimore
where
she
writes
about
law
and
politics.