Judge won't toss lawsuit over ivermectin in Arkansas jail

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit that says Washington County Jail inmates were given the drug ivermectin to fight COVID-19 without their consent. The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports the lawsuit contends detainees at the Fayetteville facility didn't learn until July 2021 that they'd received the drug as early as November 2020. The drug is not approved to treat COVID-19. U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks ruled Thursday that the lawsuit could proceed. Brooks said Dr. Robert Karas used detainees as test subjects. Brooks found Karas is not entitled to qualified immunity as a defense because he and his clinic had won a $1.3 million county contract to provide health care to inmates.