Attorney Who Sued Hospitals in 40 States Over Ivermectin Tells Ron Johnson: 69 of 72 Patients Who Received Ivermectin Survived When Courts Forced Treatment — All 140 Patients Denied the Drug Died
Attorney Ralph Lorigo delivered striking testimony Monday during Sen. Ron Johnson’s roundtable examining COVID-era hospital protocols, telling the Wisconsin Republican that he represented 212 families across 40 states who went to court seeking alternative treatment for critically ill COVID patients.
Johnson convened the September 28 roundtable, titled “COVID-19 Hospital Protocols: Real Stories from Real People,” to hear testimony from patients, family members, doctors, nurses and others about their experiences inside hospitals during the pandemic. According to Sen. Johnson’s office, the event was the first in Johnson’s series of COVID-related hearings and roundtables devoted entirely to hospital protocols.
Lorigo told the panel that of the 212 families he represented, there were 72 cases in which he prevailed and ivermectin was ultimately administered.
According to Lorigo, only three of those 72 patients died.
“In all, I represented 212 families across 40 states,” Lorigo said. “I won 72 where ivermectin was actually given. Only 3 people died.”
That means 69 of the 72 patients Lorigo identified survived, a survival rate of approximately 95.8 percent among that group.
Lorigo then described what he said happened in the remaining cases.
“Tragically, of the 140 cases where I couldn’t get into court quick enough or I lost, every single person died,” Lorigo testified.
Johnson immediately returned to the numbers, asking Lorigo to confirm that all 140 patients in the group that did not receive the treatment had died.
“They all died. Every single one,” Lorigo responded.
Johnson explicitly cautioned that Lorigo’s experience was not a randomized controlled trial, while arguing that the numbers nevertheless deserved scrutiny.
“It’s not a randomized controlled trial,” Johnson said, “but that’s some pretty powerful evidence that I wish our federal regulators would have taken a look at.”
Lorigo told the panel he worked seven days a week, ten hours a day, for a year. He called it the best experience of his life because he believes he helped save lives.
The three patients who died after he won court orders had already been on ventilators for more than 30, 40, and 50 days. Dr. Pierre Kory warned him those three were likely beyond saving. The families still wanted the fight.
“The families wanted to prove to this country that they shouldn’t be suppressed. They should have the right,” Lorigo said.
Then came the Texas case that still burns.
Lorigo said he won in court. The hospital still refused until the patient died.
That patient, according to Houston physician Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, was Tarrant County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Jones. Bowden posted after the hearing: “My patient Jason Jones was one of the unfortunate ones, thanks to Texas Huguley Hospital.”
Jones, a 48-year-old father of six with nearly three decades in law enforcement, entered Texas Health Huguley Hospital in late September 2021. He was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma in early October. His wife, Erin, obtained a prescription from Bowden and sued to force the hospital to allow treatment.
A trial judge sided with the family. The Texas Second Court of Appeals reversed the order on November 18, 2021. According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the appeals court said judges could not substitute their judgment for the hospital’s.
The Dallas Morning News later reported Jones made it home by June 2022 but never fully recovered. He died April 11, 2023, at age 50. His family was later honored in Washington during Police Week.