Oklahoma hospitals deluged by ivermectin overdoses, doctor says

[Jilly_in_VA]

An Oklahoma doctor has said overdoses of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin, which many believe without evidence can prevent or cure Covid-19, are helping cause delays and problems for rural hospitals and ambulance services struggling to cope with the resurgent pandemic.

Ivermectin is used to kill internal and external parasites in livestock animals and, in smaller doses, in humans.

“There’s a reason you have to have a doctor to get a prescription for this stuff, because it can be dangerous,” Dr Jason McElyea told KFOR, an Oklahoma TV station.

“The [emergency rooms] are so backed up that gunshot victims were having hard times getting to facilities where they can get definitive care and be treated.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/04/oklahoma-doctor-ivermectin-covid-coronavirus

[sheshe2]

1. They think they are animals?

Send them to a Veterinarian, I am sure they have stalls available.

[Chainfire]

6. I think that you would be correct if you referred to them as a horse' ass.

[sheshe2]

9. ...

[underpants]

2. Four legs good, two legs bad

They don’t seem to realize the irony.

[Runningdawg]

3. Rocklahoma, a 3 day festival of meth and metal kicks off in a few hours.

One hospital I know for sure has morgue trucks in their parking lot and if the other ones don't I would be surprised.

[tanyev]

4. Vaccine neighsayers.

[FoxNewsSucks]

5. Dumb asses.

[BlueNProud]

8. Love this

[LiberatedUSA]

7. Tell'em...

…whoooooaaa boy, easy now. You go graze out by the parking lot while we take care of the horses that matter.

[dixiegrrrrl]

10. Rolling Stone forced to issue an 'update viral hospital ivermectin story turns out to be false

Details of the false story are allover twitter, also

Rolling Stone was forced to issue an update to their viral story about Oklahoma hospitals being overwhelmed by patients who overdosed on the drug ivermectin after the doctor they cited was contradicted by the hospitals he referenced.

On Friday, the liberal magazine published testimony from Dr. Jason McElyea who told a local news station that hospitals were being overrun from patients overdosing on ivermectin which resulted in other patients waiting for treatment. McElyea claimed the situation was so bad that gunshot victims were being neglected.

However, the Northeastern Hospital System, which McElyea works for, issued a statement regarding his association with the hospitals reported in the story. The NHS revealed while McElyea "is affiliated" with a medial staffing group, he has not worked at the location in question for 2 months nor has he treated any ivermectin overdoses.

"Although Dr. Jason McElyea is not an employee of NHS Sequoyah, he is affiliated with a medical staffing group that provides coverage for our emergency room. With that said, Dr. McElyea has not worked at our Sallisaw location in over 2 months. NHS Sequoyah has not treated any patients due to complications related to taking ivermectin. This includes not treating any patients for ivermectin overdose," the statement reads.

Furthermore, the NHS insisted that patients are not being turned any for emergency care in contrast to the recent reports.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/rolling-stone-forced-issue-update-after-viral-hospital-ivermectin-story-false

[BumRushDaShow]

11. That guy has been on their local TV stations though

https://kfor.com/news/local/patients-overdosing-on-ivermectin-backing-up-rural-oklahoma-hospitals-ambulances/

And this has apparently been going on for awhile - https://kfor.com/news/coronavirus/oklahoma-center-for-poison-and-drug-information-receiving-more-calls-from-people-becoming-ill-after-taking-ivermectin-to-treat-covid-19/

The only ones reporting the "update" are the RW loon media like the Daily Caller, the Faux Snooze link you have, etc. I expect part of the problem was the guy and not the outlets.

[Celerity]

15. Rolling Stone itself looks as if they are starting to walk it back a bit.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/gunshot-victims-horse-dewormer-ivermectin-oklahoma-hospitals-covid-1220608/


Update: One hospital has denied Dr. Jason McElyea’s claim that ivermectin overdoses are causing emergency room backlogs and delays in medical care in rural Oklahoma, and Rolling Stone has been unable to independently verify any such cases as of the time of this update.

The National Poison Data System states there were 459 reported cases of ivermectin overdose in the United States in August. Oklahoma-specific ivermectin overdose figures are not available, but the count is unlikely to be a significant factor in hospital bed availability in a state that, per the CDC, currently has a 7-day average of 1,528 Covid-19 hospitalizations. The doctor is affiliated with a medical staffing group that serves multiple hospitals in Oklahoma.

Following widespread publication of his statements, one hospital that the doctor’s group serves, NHS Sequoyah, said its ER has not treated any ivermectin overdoses and that it has not had to turn away anyone seeking care.

This and other hospitals that the doctor’s group serves did not respond to requests for comment and the doctor has not responded to requests for further comment. We will update if we receive more information.

[kcr]

12. How is that false? Mcelyea is not affiliated with Northeastern Hospital system.

Northeastern Hosptial system says Dr McElyea isn't affiliated with them and hasn't worked there in two months.

Fox News and Right-Wing twitter sure does want to debunk this story, however, in the interest of promoting horse paste.

[FBaggins]

13. Sure reads like it's false

One source says that ERs in the area are so backed up with ivermectin OD’s that they can’t treat other emergencies. The other source says that they haven’t seen a single case - let
alone experienced a backup.

That leaves a pretty narrow window for the story to still be true - that other hospitals are seeing a flood but this one has seen nothing at all - but Rolling Stone’s most recent update says that “ Rolling Stone has been unable to independently verify any such cases as of the time of this update.” and that national statistics appear to make it unlikely.

The original source is refusing to comment.

[kcr]

14. I'm sure HIPAA makes that rather difficult

And what would national statistics have to do with it? I'm sure this isn't a problem in my neck of the woods. Look, it may very well turn out it isn't the case, but that statement by that one hospital spokesperson doesn't debunk a thing. They admit that doctor doesn't work in their hospital.

[FBaggins]

16. Not even a little bit

HIPAA doesn’t keep a hospital from confirming that they have large numbers of OD’s. It keeps them from confirming the details of specific patient data.

Many hospitals have digital signs on the highway advertising their current ER wait time. They can obviously answer a question re: whether their ERs are backed up.

what would national statistics have to do with it?

RS reports that there were 457 ivermectin overdoses nationwide in August. It may seem like you spend forever in the ER before being admitted, but they’re just the intake area for the hospital… you don’t stay there for days and days. ~15 cases per day nationwide effectively rebutts a claim that hospitals in one state are getting too many to handle. 15 in one hospital in one day might do it… but not nationwide.

[kcr]

17. He isn't just talking about ERs

From another article on the same topic:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/04/oklahoma-doctor-ivermectin-covid-coronavirus

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cited a case of a man who drank an injectable form of ivermectin intended for cattle. He suffered hallucinations, confusion, tremors and other side effects and was hospitalised for nine days.

He also isn't claiming that it's the only thing causing the backup. He says it's a contributing factor. And he's right. If hospitals are backing up due to covid patients, the last thing we need are people overdosing on ivermectin.

[FBaggins]

20. That doesn't help... it makes the argument worse

It would obviously take far more cases to overwhelm the entire hospital than to back up the ER

He also isn't claiming that it's the only thing causing the backup.

Oh please. We both know that there wouldn't have been a story to publish if it had been "we're seeing 2500 COVID infections per day and 25 deaths, but those three ivermectin ODs are the straw that broke the camel's back!" The reason it spread like wildfire was because gunshot victims couldn't get ER services because so many people were ODing on ivermectin.

[kcr]

21. No, it doesn't, because overdoses on ivermectin is a story

Despite attempts by the right to bury it.

[FBaggins]

23. That's pretty ridiculous spin

They could just run a story that says NPDS has tracked 459 OD cases in August and that all valid sources advise against using the drug as a COVID treatment. The "FDA - 'you are not a horse'" stories tell that tale quite well.

Giving the right the ammunition to attack such simple truths because one doctor wanted his 15 minutes of fame is not helpful.

The doctor isn't going to be able to make this go away by claiming "well... what I meant was that there were lots of COVID patients backing things up... and even one ivermectin overdose just makes things harder for us".

[kcr]

25. But that's clearly what the doctor was saying

If hospitals are already overwhelmed with covid patients, then ANY cases of people taking ivermectin and overdosing are a problem in already overwhelmed hospitals. A completely unnecessary, totally in no way debunked, right-wing disinfo caused problem.

[womanofthehills]

40. The other story about ivermectin was false too

The calls to poison control were 2% not 70% and mostly questions.

[FBaggins]

30. Another correction

You say "Mcelyea is not affiliated with Northeastern Hospital system" as though there's no reason for a specific hospital responding to his claims to be useful information. This implies that he has experience in lots of ERs around the area and the statement might be true there, but not at a specific hospital.

The problem is that his own bio only lists two hospitals that he's affiliated with (including the one quoted). He's really a general family medicine and may have little personal ER knowledge.

[kcr]

31. I'm not claiming it isn't useful

I'm saying it doesn't debunk anything. Does the fact my one local hospital has few cases of Covid mean the pandemic is over? Hardly. That bit of data is useful for me in that it gives me an idea of how active cases in my immediate area are. But that's it. One hospital saying they haven't treated anyone for ivermectin poisoning doesn't mean it isn't happening. No debunking occuring.

[FBaggins]

34. Sigh - it means that he was never a valid source for a story

He isn't an ER doctor with personal experience of what's going on today... he's a GP who apparently fills in once in awhile, but not at all since the "Hey... this might work" ivermectin nonsense began.

IOW - his interview should never have made it past the local news. The story was never verified and the source was not an expert. RS should have called the head of the hospital system for a comment or a state official (both of whom have a reason to keep people from taking ineffective drugs rather than a vaccine). It was bad journalism - which is more than enough reason for a retraction.

[kcr]

35. Your claims the story was "never verified" are complete and utter nonsense.

Anyone who does even a cursory google of ivermectin can instantly verify the claims are true. Only conspiracy-minded fools who buy that ivermectin is a valid treatment think this story is debunked.

[FBaggins]

36. You keep imagining an entirely different story

The story isn't "someone somewhere ODd on ivermectin" and thus as long as anyone anywhere took too much, the story is still true.

That isn't what the story claimed - it never would have spread if that's all that was there. Rolling Stone says that they have since tried to verify any instances in OK that fit the story... and can't find one. There is no evidence apart from this one doctor claiming that ERs in OK are so badly backed up that ambulances are unable to go to other calls because they can't drop their current patients off because the ERs are full.

It is thus entirely relevant that the hospital that he actually has a little experience with (his office is basically a double-wide right next to the hospital) says that they haven't seen a single case of ivermectin OD and have had no ER backups (from ivermectin or anything else) keeping them from serving ER patients.

[kcr]

37. Took me two seconds

https://www.newson6.com/story/611af5e20dadb30b9bf1f99d/oklahoma-hospitals-break-down-rising-covid19-patient-numbers-

At Ascension St. John, there’s now a daily traffic jam of ambulances continuing outside the emergency department.

[FBaggins]

38. How odd... yet another story gets edited right after you cite it

Those right-wingers must be cyberstalking you.

Not a single mention of ivermectin remains in their edited article.

Note also that there are zero calls for this story to be retracted... because nothing in it appears to be untrue.

[kcr]

39. No edit. Your claim:

"There is no evidence apart from this one doctor claiming that ERs in OK are so badly backed up that ambulances are unable to go to other calls because they can't drop their current patients off because the ERs are full."

At Ascension St. John, there’s now a daily traffic jam of ambulances continuing outside the emergency department..

Debunked!

These stories have not been edited. I'm still able to copy and paste the same excerpts.

[FBaggins]

42. Perhaps you should re-read the OP for the context of the thread?

"Oklahoma hospitals deluged by ivermectin overdoses"

Maybe if it had instead been "flood of COVID cases make even the rarest other conditions a challenge" ?

[kcr]

44. The doctor didn't claim the deluge was caused by ivermectin overdoses alone

I'm not defending Rolling Stone. The headline was misleading. In fact, tacking on that statement at the end by that one hospital making it appear it somehow counters his claim is also shit. Rolling Stone is shit. That doesn't mean the doctor was wrong and his claim was debunked. Rolling Stone is not the only one covering this story.

[FBaggins]

47. It would help if you would make up your mind

You have at least twice said that there's no reason to retract the story.

And "Rolling Stone is not the only one covering this story" doesn't help... because the other stories are just as off base with their conclusions. (Including the OP which is not the RS piece)

All you're really left with is that there's no reason for the local TV station to remove the video of his interview. Yet even their own story was "A rural Oklahoma doctor said patients who are taking the horse de-wormer medication, ivermectin, to fight COVID-19 are causing emergency room and ambulance back ups."

[kcr]

48. What they should do is correct the headline

and place the doctor's quote in context. The doctor didn't lie. There are no false claims.

[womanofthehills]

45. 4 billion human doses given in Africa & dev countries

For river blindness, elephantiasis, etc and very few side effects - considered a very safe drug.

[FBaggins]

49. The problem is the dosage

Apart from the obvious (that there's no good evidence that it helps).

The human dose for those treatments is a few milligrams taken a single time (or perhaps twice a week apart for lice). The stuff they can get at the local feed store is literally enough for a horse that can weigh ten times what you do.

[Tarc]

18. This is fake. MSNBC's Kyle Griffin retracted it as well

Link to tweet

[kcr]

19. Read the replies

He's rightfully getting pushback for caving in. There was no need to retract based on one hospital's comment, where the doctor doesn't work.

[FBaggins]

22. RS isn't backtracking "based on one hospital's comment"

That comment caused them to question the story and they now say that they've been unable to verify any cases that would back up his claim and that he is not responding to requests to clarify.

That is more than enough to justify the update.

[kcr]

24. This doctor didn't claim that ivermectin itself is overwhelming hospitals in Oklahoma

He was talking about the overall state of hospitals in that quote. Rolling Stone IS a shoddy excuse of a journalistic outfit, so the fact they couldn't verify any cases, even though cases do clearly exist, doesn't surprise me. It's also Rolling Stone's fault they took his quote out of context and made it look like he was saying it was ivermectin overdoses alone that were overwhelming hospitals. But it isn't what he said. And it doesn't change the fact that one hospital the doctor doesn't work for piping up and stating they have no cases doesn't debunk a single thing that doctor said.

[FBaggins]

26. So the story should be retracted, but the doctor might not be lying?

Ok... you say tomato...

[kcr]

27. No

The story should not be retracted, and there's no evidence the doctor is lying.

Should this story be retracted, then? Is this doctor lying?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/09/01/ivermectin-covid-treatment/

Oklahoma doctor Matthew Payne regularly encounters covid-19 patients in his hospital who say they had feared coronavirus vaccines and thought they had found a safer approach — taking ivermectin, a medicine long used to kill parasites in animals and humans.

“There is surprise and shock when they initially get sick and have to come to the hospital,” said Payne, a hospitalist at Stillwater Medical Center. “They’ll say, ‘I’m not sure why I feel so bad. I was taking the ivermectin,’ and I will say, ‘It doesn’t do any good.’ ”

[FBaggins]

28. How on earth do you see those two stories as at all similar?

The one you're looking at now is a straightforward "this drug doesn't help with COVID" story.

That's entirely different from "so many people are being hurt by this drug that they're clogging up ERs"

[kcr]

29. That article also addresses ivermectin overdoses in Oklahoma

Which apparently has been "debunked". But it doesn't matter. When people choose to buy into ivermectin misinfo instead of vaccines and end up in the hospital, they're still taking up a bed. That doctor isn't wrong in any way shape or form. His point was ivermectin was contributing to the problem of hospitals being overwhelmed and he is right. The only people who want this debunked are those pushing ivermectin.

[FBaggins]

32. That must have been edited out

There's no mention in the article now about ODs in OK.

But I have seen no "debunk" claims about ODs existing (in fact, the debunking articles have used the number of calls nationally to say that RS's article didn't make sense). What has been debunked is the claim that there were so many of them that hospitals couldn't get to gunshot victims.

The only people who want this debunked are those pushing ivermectin.

I'm pretty sure that the DUers who have pointed out the error just have a strong preference for truth over lies.

[kcr]

33. Still there for me:

Health departments are warning of spikes in ivermectin poisoning and hospitalizations as people snap up feed store products meant for large animals. “You are not a horse,” the Food and Drug Administration felt compelled to declare last month. “You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”

Calls about ivermectin exposure to poison control centers around the country jumped to five times normal levels in July, according to data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers. About a third of nearly 1,200 calls so far this year involved people referred for medical treatment, and about 8 percent were ultimately admitted to a hospital, said Alvin Bronstein, who leads the association’s national data system. The share of people admitted to the critical care unit more than quadrupled compared with the same period last year.

The vast majority of DUers are pretty solidly anti-ivermectin. Only you and maybe one or two other posters have jumped on the "Debunked!" bandwagon.

[FBaggins]

41. When does correcting an error make you PRO ivermectin?

There are lots of drugs that have few if any, side effects unless you take dramatically too much... but nevertheless show zero reasons to believe that you should take them for COVID. I don't have to be pro-ivermectin (unless you have lice I suppose) in order to recognize that a story claiming that there are so many ODs in one state that it's impacting more than the idiots who took horse-sized doses.

[kcr]

46. If you're carrying their water, it doesn't matter

All evidence clearly points to ivermectin use having a significant impact, particularly in Oklahoma. One shitty Rolling Stone article with a deceptive headline quoting a legit doctor out of context doesn't change any of that.

[FBaggins]

50. The doctor now says that the story was wrong

I guess he’s carrying their water too?

Then there’s this:

“The Oklahoma Center for Poison and Drug Information said they received 12 ivermectin-related calls last month.” - which is entirely consistent with the national figure that RS used in their correction - clearly demonstrating that there’s nothing unique going on in OK.

The other hospital that he works with does try your spin with a variation of “if we’re busy for entirely different reasons… then even one ivermectin OD doesn’t help “… but they admit that they’ve only seen a handful in all of their ERs.

[Treefrog]

51. CNN debunked the story in one of their "fact check" episodes this morning.

[womanofthehills]

43. Check out the photo in the Rolling Stone piece

The “ supposed gunshot victims” waiting in line are all in winter clothing with their hands in their pockets to keep warm. The photo was actually taken in January - a line for Covid shots.