Wis. Supreme Court rules hospitals can’t be forced to treat COVID with ivermectin

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – The Wisconsin Supreme Court released a ruling Tuesday that says hospitals in the state can’t be forced to administer ivermectin to treat COVID-19.

The 6-1 ruling was in favor of Aurora Health Care, which was sued by Allen Gahl after Aurora doctors refused to treat his uncle, John Zingsheim, who had COVID-19, with ivermectin.

Ivermectin tablets are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of parasite infections in humans. However, the FDA said that ivermectin has not been approved for FDA use for COVID-19 prevention or treatment.

Supreme Court justices upholding a lower court’s ruling in favor of Aurora Health Care cited the FDA’s guidance for ivermectin in their ruling, adding that ivermectin is also used in the treatment of parasitic infections in animals.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote the majority opinion in the ruling, saying that there was no legal basis in the lawsuit to order the hospital to begin treating Zingsheim with ivermectin.

“We conclude that the circuit court erroneously exercised its discretion by issuing an injunction without referencing any basis demonstrating that Gahl had a reasonable probability of success on the merits of some type of legal claim,” Ann Walsh Bradley said in the ruling.

The majority opinion also clarified it was not ruling on ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment. Justice Bradley said in the ruling that “the limited nature of our review and emphasize that this case is not about the efficacy of Ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. Rather, it is about whether the circuit court erroneously exercised its discretion by issuing the subject temporary injunction.”

Justice Rebecca Bradley, the lone judge to dissent, said that the majority opinion “misleads through omission” of facts.

“The majority’s misuse of affidavits reveals its misunderstanding regarding the standard of review,” Rebecca Bradley wrote. “The majority errs in treating this politically controversial case differently than other cases involving similar decisions.”

Wisconsin is one of several states where lawsuits are filed looking to make hospitals treat COVID-19 with ivermectin.

You can read the full ruling here.