Estate of Reno Man Who Died After Saying He Had COVID Alleges Hydroxychloroquine Caused His Death: Lawsuit Ignores Emergency Waivers

This case should be interesting given all the waivers to liability available to physicians and hospitals due to the COVID-19 Emergency.

After hundreds of thousands of millions of cases of medical negligence have been ignored, and deaths due to treatments to make room for more patients and to protect hospital staff have led to no arrests or even forfeiture of medical licenses, a physician who provided a patient with a script to one of the safest prescription medicines on the planet is being targeted after her patient died from COVID-19.

Dr. Medina Culver, an osteopath in Las Vegas, and America’s Frontline Doctors have been targeted by lawyers representing the estate of a man who sought a hydroxychloroquine prescription. Per the complaint, filed in Washoe County, the man, Jeremy Parker, died after developing ‘cold-like’ symptoms and telling a loved one that he thought he had COVID-19.

The coroner, based in Washoe County, listed the man’s cause of death as “sudden in the setting of the therapeutic use of hydroxychloroquine.”

This makes no sense at all since the man clearly died from COVID-19. The industry standard level of evidence needed to determine the causality of death if it’s a pathogen for which a vaccine exists is next to nothing.

The angle being attempted in the lawsuit is the allegation that Dr. Culver and AFD were negligent due to Dr. Culver’s alleged failure to examine the patient; the coroner is presuming that the patient’s heart condition (if it was evident during the examination) would have contraindicated the prescription of hydroxychloroquine. He is alleging that the hydroxychloroquine, not COVID-19, and not the heart condition, killed Mr. Parker.

It is going to be rather difficult for the case to proceed, however. The attorneys for the deceased’s estate appear to not be aware that the federal government relaxed the standards of care and made the use of telemedicine much more flexible. They also indemnified physicians and hospitals for liability.

From Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: COVID-19 Emergency Declaration Blanket Waivers for Health Care Providers

“The Administration is taking aggressive actions and exercising regulatory flexibilities to help healthcare providers contain the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19). CMS is empowered to take proactive steps through 1135 waivers as well as, where applicable, authority granted under section 1812(f) of the Social Security Act (the Act) and rapidly expand the Administration’s aggressive efforts against COVID-19. As a result, the following blanket waivers are in effect, with a retroactive effective date of March 1, 2020, through the end of the emergency declaration. For general information about waivers, see Attachment A to this document. These waivers DO NOT require a request to be sent to the 1135waiver@cms.hhs.gov mailbox or that notification be made to any of CMS’ regional offices. Unless otherwise noted, these waivers will terminate at the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE).”

The waiver specifically allows “Medical Screening Examination at an offsite alternative screening location” not owned by the hospital or physician.

Further, from CMS’s MEDICARE TELEMEDICINE HEALTH CARE PROVIDER FACT SHEET

“It is imperative during this public health emergency that patients avoid travel, when possible, to physicians’ offices, clinics, hospitals, or other health care facilities where they could risk their own or others’ exposure to further illness. Accordingly, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is announcing a policy of enforcement discretion for Medicare telehealth services furnished pursuant to the waiver under section 1135(b)(8) of the Act. To the extent the waiver (section 1135(g)(3)) requires that the patient have a prior established relationship with a particular practitioner, HHS will not conduct audits to ensure that such a prior relationship existed for claims submitted during this public health emergency.”

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 extended vast flexibilities regarding telehealth through December 31, 2024, regardless of the status of the § 319 PHE; previously these flexibilities were set to expire after 151 days after the end of the § 319 PHE.

The Complaint can be read (minus the Coroner’s report) on ThisIsReno.com.

The US HHS website instructing physicians on how to conduct telehealth physical examination links to this video for training for Cardiopulmonary physical examination: