Despite the numerous reports confirming that the 2020 election was not stolen, some GOP supporters continue to advocate otherwise. Among them is Karen Mueller, a Chippewa Falls attorney in Wisconsin. Known as a key player in decertifying the 2020 election, the local attorney is running for attorney general. Mueller unsuccessfully sued in November 2020 to overturn the presidential election result and wrote a memo in January supporting state Rep. Tim Ramthun's call to decertify the election.
But running for office in support of the Stop the Steal movement is not the only thing on her mind. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mueller's platform also includes prosecuting doctors who did not administer the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin to dying COVID-19 patients.
In an interview, Mueller told the outlet she is investigating six Wisconsin hospitals for their doctors' decisions to not administer ivermectin to COVID-19 patients. She did not disclose the names of the hospitals or reveal details of her allegations.
Despite there being no approval or evidence in support of the use of ivermectin as a prevention or treatment for COVID-19, Mueller argues that people are "begging for help, trying to figure out what to do because their loved ones were in hospitals and the families believed that those loved ones were basically being murdered. And they had the drugs withheld from them.”
"I am running for Attorney General because of potential homicides in hospitals, because of vaccines — so-called vaccines," she said.
She even claimed she took ivermectin herself last year while infected with COVID-19.
Since the start of the pandemic, calls to poison control centers nationwide have increased at alarming rates. In some states, data has found over 100% increases in calls from 2020 to 2021, Daily Kos reported.
Despite warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not to take ivermectin for COVID-19, anti-vaxxers nationwide have been taking the drug, with outlets like Fox News supporting false claims of its efficiency.
Health care officials have consistently noted the dangers of the dewormer, adding that doctors who do not prescribe ivermectin to COVID-19 patients are upholding the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm to patients by making decisions according to the consensus of available credible medical research.
"We strive to get it right. We do the best job we can to do no harm and this is an example that would be unthinkable to me to ask a physician to prescribe a medicine that is at best, ineffective and at worst, harmful," Patrick Remington, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Preventive Medicine Residency Program, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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"There are valid debates about the best ways to treat serious illnesses and science is iterative, that as we go along we learn by experimentation, we learn by carefully conducted research," he said.
"Ivermectin has undergone that scrutiny from early anecdotal evidence that it might be effective to well-conducted scientific studies that show that not only is it not effective but it can be harmful, and no credible medical organization or professional organization recommends it," Remington continued.
Mueller insists that if elected she will not only pursue civil penalties but criminal charges against doctors who have refused to prescribe the drug in cases where patients died.
"What I would do if I became Attorney General is I would open investigations into those deaths and if the facts were substantiated, I would probably bring charges against the people that were responsible for this," Mueller said.
Her statements follow cases she attempted to work on in supporting families whose loved ones were denied the animal drug.
Mueller and others fail to acknowledge the lack of research and the increased number of calls to poison control centers that have occurred over the last three years.
Daily Kos reported that calls to poison control facilities nationwide first increased in 2020 following Donald Trump’s suggestion that disinfectants be considered a possible treatment for the novel coronavirus. While he later claimed his comment was sarcastic, it wasn’t before thousands of people ingested Clorox bleach and other harmful chemicals used for cleaning. Poison centers in several states reported they had an increase in calls within 18 hours of Trump’s broadcast.
Republican officials need to stop spreading false information and take responsibility for their words and actions.
