Multiple Deaths At Homes Using Unauthorized Drug

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

At least 115 Pennsylvania patients have died from Covid-19 at the same nursing homes where there was widespread and unapproved use of a controversial drug touted by President Trump but subsequently removed from an approved coronavirus treatment list by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Reports issued by the Pennsylvania Health Department show the deaths occurred at two nursing homes at opposite ends of the state; the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver and the Southeastern Veterans Center in Chester County.
Inspection reports on the two facilities show the drug hydroxychloroquine was in widespread use at both facilities. In fact 205 of 435 patients at the Beaver nursing home were treated with the drug without the required approval of the state Health Department.
Nor did Brighton officials get proper informed consent from patients or their legal guardians.
State Health Department reports show 42 patients have died at the Southeastern Veterans Center while 73 have died at Brighton, one of the highest totals in the state.
The use of the drug, which the FDA has warned can have serious, even fatal side effects on some patients, has drawn the attention of three Democratic U.S. Senators to call on three federal agencies to take action.
The letters to the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Inspector General in the Office of Health and Human Services cite the fact that the drugs were dispensed in apparent violation of state and federal laws and regulations.
The letters were sent by Ron Wyden of Oregon, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.
In the letter to the HHS Inspector General the senators cited the use of the drug on cognitively impaired patients in a Texas nursing home.
The FDA had issued an emergency use authorization for hydroxychloroquine on March 28, but then revoked that authorization on June 15. Trump had touted the anti-malarial drug as a "game changer."
In a recent state Health Department inspection report on the Brighton facility, state surveyors cited the fact that the drug was not an approved medical treatment. In addition the home failed to report the drug use as a medication error.
The Chester county state run veterans home was cited recently for delayed treatment for a patient with multiple ailments. The patient was being treated with hydroxychloroquine and orders for X-Rays were delayed. The patient's conditions included pneumonia and a temperature of more than 100 degrees, two of the symptoms of Covid-19.
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