An Arkansas doctor facing dozens of lawsuits after allegedly providing prison inmates ivermectin to treat COVID-19 without their consent has been recognized positively by local leaders.
Dr. Robert Karas was commended for a "job well done" by Washington County Justice of the Peace Patrick Deakins during a resolution passing to the jail. The resolution states that Karas effectively treated the cases that emerged in the jail and experienced no deaths due out of 150 cases of COVID to his treatment, despite being investigated by the state medical board and sued by the Arkansas ACLU.
"I don't know the science behind COVID and I'm not so sure anybody does," said Deakins during the resolution passing. "I don't know the value of one treatment or the appropriateness of it. I don't know the efficacy of ivermectin and I don't know the most useful ways to treat any one individual, and those are not the debate of this resolution, I just want what's best for the health and safety of the county."
Deakins also mentioned he is not a doctor or virologist.
However, not everyone believes that Karas provided adequate care to inmates. Justice of the Peace Eva Madison claimed to CBS News that he might have worsened their conditions.
"If you talk to individuals at our local hospitals that are treating patients after Dr. Karas has treated them, they are very ill," she said. "The reality is that he doesn't know. He can't possibly know what the effects are of the treatment that he has given."
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Outside of the Arkansas ACLU lawsuit, Karas has been sued multiple times by former and current inmates alleging medical malpractice. For that reason, Arkansas Justice Reform Coalition's Sarah Moore condemned the resolution to CBS News.
"It's incredibly concerning that this body would be considering endorsing when there is current pending litigation that's putting into question whether or not there was consent, whether or not peoples' constitutional rights were violated," she said. "It's incredibly inappropriate. It's basically saying in effect that we don't believe you."
Ivermectin has been a controversial medicine that has often been used in right-wing circles as a treatment for COVID-19. However, the medicine has not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for COVID-19 purposes, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned against using it for any diseases other than certain parasitic infections.
"There's a lot of misinformation around, and you may have heard that it's okay to take large doses of ivermectin. It is not okay," wrote the CDC. "Even the levels of ivermectin for approved human uses can interact with other medications, like blood-thinners. You can also overdose on ivermectin, which can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hypotension, allergic reactions, dizziness, ataxia, seizures, coma and even death."
Update 2/8/22, 1:40 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include comments by Patrick Deakins, Eva Madison and Sarah Moore, as well as information on ivermectin.
An Arkansas doctor facing dozens of lawsuits after allegedly providing prison inmates ivermectin to treat COVID-19 without their consent has been recognized positively by local leaders.An Arkansas doctor facing dozens of lawsuits after allegedly providing prison inmates ivermectin to treat COVID-19 without their consent has been recognized positively by local leaders.Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty
