Florida school teacher and mom-of-two, 47, dies of COVID after suing hospital to be treated with ivermectin
- Tamara Drock, 47, died Friday from COVID-19 complications after spending months at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Florida
- Her husband Ryan sued the hospital in October in an attempt to force doctors to administer the controversial drug ivermectin
- The elementary school teacher and mom-of-two was placed on a ventilator in September
- The doctor later placed her on the drug, and but the couple's lawyer argued it was too low of a dosage
- Ryan argued that a different Tenet Healthcare facility had agreed to administer the drug to Tamara
A Florida teacher hospitalized with COVID-19 has died after her husband unsuccessfully sued to force doctors to treat her with ivermectin, an animal de-wormer.
Tamara Drock, 47, of Loxahatchee, Florida, died on Friday, 12 weeks after being admitted to Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, according to the Palm Beach Post.
Her husband Ryan Drock sued the hospital in October in an attempt to require doctors to administer ivermectin, a drug used to treat conditions caused by parasitic worms.
Tamara Drock, 47, (pictured) died from COVID-19 complications on Friday at Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center in Florida. She was put on a ventilator in September and her husband Ryan sued the hospital in October after doctors refused to treat her with ivermectin, an animal de-wormer. She was eventually treated with a low dosage of the drug
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not approved the drug to treat COVID-19, saying it hasn't proven effective in pre-clinical trials.
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge James Nutt rejected Drock's lawsuit last month, stating that allowing judges to countermand doctors' decisions could set a dangerous precedent.
He urged the Drocks and the hospital to try to reach an agreement on their own.
A deal fell apart the Egret Lake Elementary school teacher's condition got worse and she was placed on a ventilator in September after being in the hospital for more than a month, according to WPTV.
'This woman is sitting on her deathbed,' the couple's attorney Jake Huxtable said at the time. 'She flatlined a couple of days ago and they revived her. But the hospital is out of options.'
Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center said it had exhausted all other medical treatments, according to WPTV.
It is not known what other treatments Tamara received leading up to her death.
Her husband Ryan (pictured) sued after doctors refused to give it to her and said they had exhausted all avenues. The couple's lawyer said another hospital owned by Tenet Healthcare had already agreed to give Tamara the drug and that a pharmacy had agreed to fill the prescription
An emergency room physician at a different Tenet Healthcare facility had allegedly authorized the use of the drug for Tamara and there was a pharmacy available to fill the prescription, according to the Palm Beach Post.
'We're not asking the court to compel the hospital to give her an unsafe horse dosage,' Huxtable said at the time, referring to the injectable form of the medication that is used to treat worms in horses and other livestock.
The doctor agreed to administer ivermectin at a dosage the family's attorney said was too low, the newspaper reported, but the lawyer said it was more about the right to choose what happens to your body.
'We don't know if [the drug] would have saved her life, but it could have,' Huxtable said.
'Maybe it wouldn't have done anything, but we're pursuing the case strictly from a legal perspective. Every person in Florida has a constitutional right to choose what is done with their own body.'
The mother-of-two died on November 12 from complications due to COVID-19, the Palm Beach Post reported. She leaves behind her husband, her 14-year-old daughter Emily and her 12-year-old son Parker.
Ryan Drock, who also was infected but recovered from COVID-19, and he told the Palm Beach Post that he's not giving up.
'I'm hoping they name a law after her so no one has to go through this,' Drock said. 'If she had walked out of the hospital she could have had the medication.'
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to help cover Tamara's medical bills. It has raised over $10,000 out of its $150,000 goal as of November 16.
DailyMail.com contacted Tenet Healthcare, which owns the hospital, for comment.
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The elementary school teacher leaves behind two children - Emily, 14, and Parker, 12 - and her husband
Ivermectin is a controversial drug that has not been recommended as treatment for COVID-19 and is typically used to de-worm livestock
A Texas doctor was also recently suspended for promoting the drug to patients.
Dr. Mary Bowden was suspended from her position on Friday at the Houston Methodist Hospital for promoting ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19.
Bowden, an ear, nose throat doctor at Houston Methodist Hospital, had recently joined the staff before she had her privileges revoked.
She had posted a series of pro-ivermectin tweets on her social media and also slammed the vaccine mandate.
In response to the tweets, Houston Methodist Hospital released a statement to confirm that they did not share the same views as Bowden.
'Dr. Mary Bowden, who recently joined the medical staff at Houston Methodist Hospital, is using her social media accounts to express her personal and political opinions about the COVID-19 vaccine and treatment,' it said on Twitter.
'These opinions, which are harmful to the community, do not reflect reliable medical evidence or the values of Houston Methodist, where we have treated more than 25,000 COVID-19 inpatients, and where all our employees and physicians are vaccinated to protect our patients.'
Bowden had reportedly claimed that the hospital was turning away unvaccinated patients in her emails, according to the Houston Chronicle.
She also runs her own practice and said she will 'only accept new patients who are unvaccinated because they are being marginalized' and also said 'all the data I have collected suggests that the vaccine is not working.'
The hospital has since denied these claims and said that they do not turn away unvaccinated patients.
They did, however, require their staff to be vaccinated by June 7.
Bowden is fully vaccinated.
Ivermectin has been primarily used for animal consumption, specifically for livestock.
Human use of the drug has been approved by the FDA, however, for parasitical infections and skin diseases.
An overdose of ivermectin can cause severe effects in humans ranging from gastrointestinal issues to seizures, and even death.
