COVID-19 patient shows 'improvement' after receiving ivermectin following legal battle with hospital
ELMHURST - After a short but tense legal battle, Edward-Elmhurst Hospital has agreed to allow an outside doctor to administer ivermectin to one of its COVID-19 patients.
"She looks calm, relaxed, she looks comfortable, so this is all I can tell right now," said Desi Fype, who has been fighting for her mother, 68-year-old Nurije Fype, to receive ivermectin -- an anti-parasitic drug which has not been FDA-approved to treat COVID.
Since Nurije was placed on a ventilator April 28th, and with her condition not improving, Desi has been fighting for Edward-Elmhurst Hospital to allow the drug to be used.
"At the point of me having nothing else to lose, and seeing that no other treatment in the hospital was making her any better, I wanted to try something different. Why not try to save her life instead of seeing her decline?" Desi said.
While ivermectin isn't FDA-approved, some doctors say it's proved to be effective against COVID. Despite a judge's orders, the hospital had been refusing to administer the drug until Monday night, when it agreed to let an outside doctor give Nurije her first dose.
"I was really really excited and hopeful to have this drug administered to my mom as well, because from the day that she was admitted to the hospital, her condition kept only declining," Desi said.
"Today, after her first dose, the ventilator has been reduced from 75 percent to 65 percent," said Fype family attorney Ralph Lorigo. "That's an improvement. Now she will get a dose of ivermectin every day until recovery."
Edward-Elmhurst Hospital has declined to comment on Nurije's treatment, citing privacy regulations.