by Jared Evan
A 65-Year-old woman died after her doctor prescribed hydroxychloroquine and the antibiotic azithromycin, after she described coronavirus like symptoms over the phone, NY Post reported.
In early April, Ligia, a 65-year-old Queens resident, was given the drug by her general practitioner after she reported having a bad cough, fever, and shortness of breath. Ligia’s last name is being withheld on the request of her children, NBC News reported.
The doctor never tested the patient for COVID-19, but only based the prescription on her described symptoms.
NBC reported: Ligia’s symptoms were consistent with those of COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, she was never tested for the virus, her brother-in-law, Lee Levitt, told NBC News. Ligia received the drug after speaking by phone with her doctor, Levitt said. She was never evaluated in person and received no heart screening or warning about the potential side effects.
“It was handed over like a bag of cookies,” Levitt said.
The victim’s family is not sure the drugs caused her death and as of press they have not received a certificate of death.
American Heart Association have issued warnings about the drug’s potential to trigger heart arrhythmia in some patients.
The Food and Drug Administration has only approved hydroxychloroquine — which is typically used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis — for treatment of COVID-19 in advanced cases of the virus and by the time patients have to rely on ventilators, the NY Post reported.
She filled her prescription on April 4, four days before the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology provided guidance for doctors prescribing hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin.
The AHA urged caution given that “each have potential serious implications for people with existing cardiovascular disease,” including increased risk of sudden death.
However, she never even was seen by her physician or tested to see if she actually had COVID-19.
The drug combination which President Trump has been overly excited about, has received mixed reviews from various studies. In China, a study of 50 patients found that hydroxychloroquine did not provide better help than standard care and was much more likely to cause side effects.
However, there have also been rousing success stories.
Dr. Mohammud Alam, an infectious disease specialist affiliated with Plainview Hospital, said 81 percent of infected covid patients he treated with hydroxychloroquine at three Long Island nursing homes recovered from the contagion, TJV previously reported.
Michigan State House Rep. Karen Whitsett, who represents District 9 in Detroit, credits hydroxychloroquine and President Donald Trump with saving her from the COVID-19 coronavirus, ABC reported.
Finally, The National File exclusively reported David Bryan keyboard player from Bon Jovi credited Hydroxychloroquine with helping him recover from COVID-19.
Any reputable doctor should know better than to prescribe a powerful drug, with many known side effects over the phone without even personally verifying the symptoms of the patient, let alone testing for coronavirus. It is conceivable with the pandemic in full swing in NY, some people might assume they actually have the virus, based on what they learned online and on the news.
One should never self-diagnose and its reprehensible the unnamed doctor accepted a self-diagnosis as coronavirus and prescribed powerful drugs which can affect one’s cardiovascular functioning.
