Legal Insurrection by Terrance Kible Sunday, September 10, 2023
Appeals Court: Doctors Can Sue FDA for Condemning Ivermectin as a COVID-19 Treatment, Resulting Reputational Harm‘Even tweet-sized doses of personalized medical advice are beyond FDA’s statutory authority,’ the appeals court held.A federal appeals court allowed three doctors to sue the FDA over a series of website and social media posts condemning ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. The doctors alleged the FDA exceeded its authority by offering medical advice and “that FDA’s messaging interfered with their own individual medical practice.”
The lawsuit stems from a series of FDA posts advising consumers not to take horse ivermectin but failing to acknowledge the existence of a human ivermectin formulation, including one tweet advising consumers, “Hold your horses, y’all”:
The trial court dismissed the doctors’ lawsuit after finding sovereign immunity barred their three claims. The appeals court reversed on one claim, finding plausible the argument the FDA exceeded its statutory authority by offering medical advice instead of medical information:
FDA is not a physician. It has authority to inform, announce, and apprise—but not to endorse, denounce, or advise. The Doctors have plausibly alleged that FDA’s Posts fell on the wrong side of the line between telling about and telling to. . . . Even tweet-sized doses of personalized medical advice are beyond FDA’s statutory authority. (emphasis original)
More:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/09/appeals-court-doctors-can-sue-fda-for-condemning-ivermectin-as-a-covid-19-treatment-resulting-reputational-harm/
