All three plaintiffs in the suit alleged the agency’s widespread and public attack on ivermectin caused them to be ‘pressured, unable to prescribe medication, and threatened with or subjected to professional discipline’ 

Jessica Hofer Wilkinson
For Clark County Today

The battle over proper treatment for COVID-19 and the security of the doctor-patient relationship continued on Sept. 30 as the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943, filed a motion and amicus brief in support of the physicians who sued the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year. 

As previously reported, three physicians with outstanding credentials and track records for treating patients with COVID-19, including an emergency medicine doctor licensed in the state of Washington, filed a lawsuit against the FDA on June 2, 2022, for the agency’s deliberate interference with their ability to practice medicine, explicitly concerning the off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19. 

All three plaintiffs in the suit alleged the agency’s widespread and public attack on ivermectin caused them to be “pressured, unable to prescribe medication, and threatened with or subjected to professional discipline.” 

Pharmacists refused to fill their prescriptions for critically ill patients and denied it when early treatment was paramount. Hospital employers forced resignations. And medical licenses were suspended. 

Now, the AAPS, whose motto is omnia pro aegroto, meaning “everything for the patient,” has provided the federal district court in Galveston, Texas, a thorough defense of off-label use of drugs in patient care, calling such behavior “absolutely necessary” to the practice of effective medicine. 

Their brief highlights previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings that recognize “off-label use is widespread in the medical community and often is essential to giving patients optimal medical care, both of which medical ethics, FDA, and most courts recognize.” 

“Ivermectin has long been a medication fully approved as safe for humans,” the AAPS motion reads. “The drug is safe. It is solely within the authority of physicians to prescribe approved-as-safe drugs for new uses.” 

According to the AAPS, “The FDA’s unauthorized and unjustified disparagement of physicians prescribing ivermectin has wrongfully influenced multiple courts and state medical boards,” including physicians belonging to their organization. 

Much like the plaintiffs in the case, numerous AAPS members have been treating COVID-19 patients since early 2020 and can attest that the FDA’s actions have caused real harm to physicians and their patients. 

They conclude, “Defendant FDA lacks both the authority and the expertise to practice medicine, interfere with the practice of medicine, guide the practice of medicine, or advise about the practice of medicine. Federal law is clear about this, and common sense reinforces it. FDA employees are not practicing physicians and are not treating patients. FDA employees, for the most part, are not even licensed physicians.” 

The AAPS is an organization whose previous amicus briefs have been cited in multiple court decisions and even relied upon by the U.S. Supreme Court in high-profile cases. Their fervent dedication to preserving the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship and protecting it from unlawful government interference led them to file this most recent brief objecting to the FDA’s overreach.

Jessica Hofer Wilkinson is a freelance writer, home educator and mother of four and nursing home chaplain. She resides in Clark County.