Attorney Karen Mueller Press Release 'Failure to Treat in Hospitals'

December 7, 2022 Attorney Karen Mueller from the Amos Center for Justice & Liberty held a press conference across the street from Aurora Summit Hospital in Oconomowoc, WI regarding the September 14, 2022 announcement by the Wisconsin Supreme Court which granted a petition for review in the Ivermectin related matter found in Gahl v. Aurora Hospital, 2021AP001787.
Back Story:
On Sept 19, 2021, Waukesha County resident John Zingsheim was admitted to Aurora Medical Center-Summit after being diagnosed with COVID-19 three days before. Two weeks later, on Oct. 3, he was intubated and put on a ventilator. At the hospital, Zingsheim was treated with a steroid and three other drugs, while he declined the antiviral drug remdesivir, according to the appellate court opinion.

Zingsheim’s nephew, Allen Gahl, holds a power of attorney for health care for his uncle. According to the appellate court ruling, Gahl read about the use of ivermectin for COVID-19 through an internet search. Gahl spoke with a Wisconsin physician who recommended ivermectin. The doctor wrote a prescription for Zingsheim without having met him, based on information from Gahl.

Aurora doctors refused the request for ivermectin, saying it would be “below the standard of care” for COVID-19 patients, the appeals court opinion states.

Gahl filed a petition in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Oct. 7, asking a judge to order the hospital to honor the ivermectin prescription. After a hearing on Oct. 12, Judge Lloyd Carter issued an order directing the hospital to administer the prescription. In a follow-up hearing the next day, the judge modified the order, stating that it would be up to Gahl to supply the ivermectin and to supply a doctor “that meets the approval of the hospital” to administer the prescription.

Aurora appealed the judge’s order to the state Court of Appeals District II, which stayed the order. The Wisconsin Supreme Court denied a petition by Gahl for the high court to take the case directly.

In an opinion issued May 25, the appeals court reversed the judge’s order on a vote of 2-1. The opinion was written by Judge Lori Kornblum and joined by Judge Lisa Neubauer.

Karen L. Mueller, General Counsel

Oral arguments at the Wisconsin Supreme Court are set for January 17, 2023