"They used us as an experiment": Arkansas inmates who were given ivermectin to treat COVID file federal lawsuit against jail

A group of men detained at Washington County Detention Center in Arkansas say that the jail's medical staff gave them the anti-parasite drug ivermectin last year, without their consent, to treat COVID-19, while telling them the pills were "vitamins." On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union, on behalf of the inmates, filed a federal lawsuit against the jail and its doctor. At a local finance and budget committee meeting last August, county sheriff Tim Helder confirmed that the facility's doctor Dr. Robert Karas prescribed ivermectin.According to the lawsuit, as well as CBS News' previous interview with one of the inmates and plaintiffs, 30-year-old Edrick Floreal-Wooten, the jail's medical staff told inmates the ivermectin pills were "vitamins," "antibiotics," and/or "steroids." "The truth, however, was that without knowing and voluntary consent, Plaintiffs ingested incredibly high doses of a drug that credible medical professionals, the FDA, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, all agree is not an effective treatment against COVID-19," the lawsuit says. He said he and other inmates were not aware the jail nurses were giving them ivermectin until about five days after they first started receiving the pills."They said they were vitamins, steroids and antibiotics," he told CBS News. We never knew that.""They said they were vitamins": When this inmate at a Washington County, Arkansas jail had COVID, medical personnel offered him pills to help him “get better” — but, he says, nobody told him it was ivermectin https://t.co/qn9bWONwHX pic.twitter.com/Yq1OAsVmHGThe inmates were not able to discern what the pills are, he said, because they were pulled out of a drawer that has dozens of bottles. Karas also touted ivermectin to treat COVID-19 through his health care facilities, the lawsuit says."Guess we made the news again this week," Karas Health Care said in a Facebook post on January 15.