Doctors have authority to prescribe ‘off-label’ drugs to treat COVID-19, SC AG says
South Carolina’s attorney general issued a legal opinion Friday saying he believes doctors in South Carolina do have the authority to prescribe so-called “off-label” drugs — such as Ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine — to patients to treat COVID-19, as long as they have the consent of their patients.
Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson said doctors should be given room to make decisions for their patients.
“Our doctors, as well as their patients, need to know that doctors have the right to make important medical decisions, as long as they have the informed consent of their patients,” Wilson said in a news release. “In fighting COVID, the doctor should be given the broadest possible leeway.”
Republican state Sen. Shane Martin and Republican state Rep. Bill Taylor asked for the opinion from Wilson to determine whether state law allows for Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine or other off-label drugs to be prescribed for the coronavirus.
The opinion says it is beyond the attorney general’s office’s expertise to determine whether any specific off-label drugs are appropriate for the treatment of COVID-19. But it says that “state law strongly protects the medical judgment of the physician in this circumstance. It is clear that an attending physician possesses especially broad discretion to prescribe what he or she deems the appropriate medication in a given situation.”
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s website says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration “has not approved the use of either hydroxychloroquine or Ivermectin for treating or preventing COVID-19 in humans.” But the DHEC site also notes both drugs are FDA-approved for other diseases and can be taken safely as directed by a doctor.
