Convinced of having been the guinea pigs of a “medical experimentation”, four inmates of a prison in Arkansas, in the United States, decided to initiate proceedings against the penitentiary establishment. They claim that ivermectin was administered to them without their knowledge, to treat Covid-19.
According to their complaint, these four men were placed in the “quarantine block” after contracting the disease in August. They would then have received, twice a day, a “cocktail of drugs” provided by Robert Karas, the prison doctor. According to information from the Guardian, the latter would have presented this treatment as a simple combination of “vitamins, antibiotics and/or steroids”.
We’re suing!
The Washington County Detention Center did not use use safe and appropriate treatments for COVID-19. Instead, they used treatment warned against by the FDA – without the knowledge and consent of the patients. They must be held accountable.https://t.co/Ji1mGM2yUK pic.twitter.com/txhKO3L7po
— ACLU of Arkansas (@ArkansasACLU) January 13, 2022
In reality, it would be ivermectin, a parasiticide commonly used for cattle and whose use against Covid-19, which would have been given. A drug which, in the context of the coronavirus, is not recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), but also by European and American health authorities.
The American drug agency, the FDA, has even warned against the risks of overdose or the use of the veterinary form of the drug. Possible side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, delusions, and even death.
Despite these warnings, a disinformation movement carried by social networks has continued to present ivermectin as a miracle treatment against Covid-19. Theories to which Robert Karas would have adhered, administering the pest control to his detainees from November 2020.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has decided to bring this case to justice, on behalf of these four detainees. The complaint targets the prison, Dr. Robert Karas, but also Washington County Sheriff, Tim Helder.
“Incredibly high” doses
It was through the latter that the plaintiffs understood that ivermectin had been administered to them. He would have detailed the treatment given to Covid-19 patients during an official county meeting.
According to the New York Times, forms asking for prisoners’ retroactive consent to be treated with ivermectin were distributed from the time the ACLU held the prison to account.
“If the plaintiffs had been informed that the drugs they were given included ivermectin and kept informed of its nature and its potential side effects, they would have refused to take them,” assures Gary Sullivan, legal director of the Aclu Arkansas.
Not to mention that, according to the filing of a complaint, these detainees would have “ingested incredibly high doses” of antiparasitic. They say they suffered multiple side effects, including blurred vision, diarrhea, bloody stools and stomach cramps. So many ailments that gave rise to medical examinations paid for at their expense.
The first elements of the investigation suggest that these four men are not isolated cases: in a letter sent to his lawyer last September, Robert Karas mentions 254 prisoners treated with ivermectin. The state medical commission has taken up the case, its members are to meet in February.