Motion seeks to add jail detainee to ivermectin lawsuit

FAYETTEVILLE — Lawyers for detainees who sued Washington County jail officials and a jail doctor over being treated with ivermectin for covid-19 want to amend their federal lawsuit to address claims of mootness raised by the defendants.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas filed the federal lawsuit in January.

Four detainees contend in the lawsuit they were unknowingly given ivermectin at the jail without being told the nature, contents or potential side effects of the drug. The lawsuit says they were told the treatment consisted of vitamins, antibiotics and/or steroids. The lawsuit contends detainees were given ivermectin as early as November 2020 and didn’t become aware of what the treatment was until July 2021.

Defendants include Tim Helder, in his official capacity as sheriff; Karas Correctional Health; Dr. Robert Karas; and the Washington County Detention Center. They claim in a motion filed earlier this month the claims are moot because the plaintiffs are no longer detainees in the jail and any chance of them returning is purely speculative, so the court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the case.

The plaintiffs are now at the Arkansas Department of Correction, according to the defendants’ motion. Courts have held an action seeking an injunction to alter prison conditions becomes moot once the plaintiff transfers to another facility, the motion argues.

Lawyers for the former Washington County detainees, in their motion filed Friday, asked the judge to allow them to consolidate another lawsuit making similar claims as well as adding several more defendants and claims for relief.

Thomas Fritch filed a federal lawsuit, without a lawyer’s aid, making the same allegations and, crucially, Fritch is still a detainee at the jail, according to the motion. A motion was filed Wednesday on behalf of Fritch to consolidate the cases.

The motion Friday also seeks to add as defendants Cpl. Tom Mulvaney, of the Sheriff’s Office, in his individual and official capacities and Kelley Hinely, a nurse, in her official and individual capacities. It also seeks to add an individual capacity claim against Helder and to make clear the claims brought against Karas are brought in his official and individual capacities. It also asks to add a state law claim for battery against the Karas defendants and seeks compensatory and punitive damages against all of the defendants.

Plaintiffs in the case include Edrick Floreal-Wooten, Jeremiah Little, Julio Gonzales and Dayman Blackburn, who were housed in a quarantine block at the jail. The lawsuit says the men were given inappropriately high doses of ivermectin.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration hasn’t approved ivermectin for use in treating nor preventing covid-19 in humans, according to the lawsuit. It’s approved to treat some parasitic worms, head lice and skin conditions but isn’t an antiviral drug.

Under Arkansas law, medical providers must warn a patient of potential hazards of future medical treatment, according to the lawsuit.

In an answer to the lawsuit filed in January, the defense denied any wrongdoing and contended there can be no constitutional violation or deliberate indifference because physicians are permitted to exercise medical judgment in the treatment of inmates.