The 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled the U.S. Food and Drug Administration exceeded its authority under federal law when it advised the public against using ivermectin

From here:

Appeals Court Rules FDA ‘Exceeded Its Authority’ by Advising Public Against Use of Ivermectin to Treat COVID • Children's Health Defense (childrenshealthdefense.org)

A door is open for doctors Robert Apter, Mary Talley Bowden and Paul E. Marik to seek civil damages against the FDA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), FDA Commissioner Robert Califf And HHS Secretary Xavier Beccera for damages to their careers and professional reputations as well as for their patients to seek damages for interfering in the doctor/patient relationship.

Well, that’s my read anyway!

Check out these damning statements from the 3 judge panel

“.. “the Doctors can use the APA [Administrative Procedure Act] to bypass sovereign immunity and assert their ultra vires claims against the Agencies and the Officials.”

CHD notes “Ultra vires claims describe “actions taken by government bodies or corporations that exceed the scope of power given to them by laws or corporate charters.”

“U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett, writing for the three-judge panel, said, “FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers ‘stop’ taking medicine.”

“FDA is not a physician. It has authority to inform, announce, and apprise — but not to endorse, denounce, or advise.”

I wonder how this also impacts California legislation that says that doctors can only transact the narrative laid down by a State medical board. Probably doesn’t. Many medical boards view patients as subject to political whim and are not there to be treated by a doctor who knows the actual personal health history of a patient (“one size fits all” is their mantra.

“The Doctors have plausibly alleged that FDA’s [social media] Posts fell on the wrong side of the line between telling about and telling to,” he added. “FDA argues that the Twitter posts are ‘informational statements’ that cannot qualify as rules because they ‘do not “direct” consumers, or anyone else, to do or refrain from doing anything.’ We are not convinced.”

“The long and short of it is that state medical boards, not the FDA, regulate the practice of medicine,” Jaffe said. “They decide if the use of ivermectin and other off-label drug use aligns with the standard of care.

In a blog post, Jaffe wrote that the FDA’s acknowledgment that doctors can legally prescribe ivermectin “has ZERO RELEVANCE in determining if a doctor can be prosecuted and sanctioned by a state medical board for prescribing these drugs for Covid.”

Oh, so there is that then.

Lots more in the linked CGD article at the top.

The lawsuit has been remanded to the district court, which will now hear the case.

CHD notes “Other key COVID-19-related cases challenging the federal government are currently before the 5th Circuit, including the Missouri et al. v. Biden et al. and Kennedy et al. v. Biden et al. censorship cases. In July, the two cases were consolidated, while the 5th Circuit heard oral arguments in Missouri et al. v. Biden et al. last month.”

Onwards!

Please buy a subscription or donate a coffee (I drink a lot of coffee) - “God Bless You!” if you can’t or don’t want to contribute. Coffee donations here: https://ko-fi.com/peterhalligan - an annual subscription of 100 bucks is one third less than a $3 coffee a week!