Fired Alberta Physician Tells National Citizen’s Inquiry Ivermectin Saved Patients From COVID-19

A health worker shows a box containing a bottle of Ivermectin, a medicine authorized by the National Institute for Food and Drug Surveillance (INVIMA) to treat patients with mild, asymptomatic or suspicious COVID-19, as part of a study of the Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases Studies, in Cali, Colombia, on July 21, 2020. Luis Robayo/AFP via Getty Images

On the final day of the National Citizen’s Inquiry in Ottawa on May 19, an Alberta physician testified that three of his COVID-19 patients recovered shortly after he gave them ivermectin, a decision which led to his dismissal from his job and being essentially barred from practicing medicine in the province.

“Less than 18 hours after receiving ivermectin, these patients made a remarkable clinical turnaround. Now again, this is based on data that had been published throughout 2020 and 2021,” said Dr. Daniel Nagase.

The National Citizen’s Inquiry, which describes itself as a “citizen-led and citizen-funded initiative that is completely independent from government,” is examining how the pandemic measures put in place by all levels of government impacted Canadians in the four categories of health, fundamental rights and freedoms, social well-being, and economic prosperity.

During the pandemic, Nagase saw three COVID-19 patients who were struggling to breathe to such an extent that they were four to six hours away from needing to go on mechanical ventilators. He said that based on recent scientific data regarding ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, he made the decision to treat COVID-19 them using the drugs.

Nagase said he asked for ivermectin from the Red Deer Hospital’s central pharmacy, but was denied and warned the drug should not be used for COVID-19 patients. He instead acquired the ivermectin from a local pharmacist.

Nagase gave the patients ivermectin, along with over-the-counter vitamin D and zinc. He said all the patients recovered shortly after being given the medication.

Health Canada said ivermectin has been authorized in Canada for human use for the treatment of parasitic worm infections, but there is “no evidence” that it works to prevent or treat COVID-19 and it has not been authorized for that use.

A day after giving his final patient ivermectin in September 2021, Nagase was removed from his medical duty and was barred from practicing emergency medicine in Alberta.

“Although Alberta Health Service has refused to state that they fired me, effectively they did fire me by refusing to allow me to pick up extra shifts in the emergency department and cancelling all the shifts that I had scheduled,” he said.

Alberta Health Service then filed a complaint with the College of Physicians & Surgeons of Alberta, who placed restrictions on Nagase’s practice, “basically making it impossible for me to work as an emergency doctor.”

Improper Ventilation Not Investigated

Nagase testified that he does not like to dwell on what happened to him because some patients suffered “far worse” under the “criminal negligence” of medical doctors during COVID-19.

He said in November 2021, a 47-year-old man with COVID-19 pneumonia was put on a ventilator by a doctor, despite showing stable vital signs and adequate oxygenation. This was “after there was almost two entire years of evidence showing that ventilators caused harm in COVID pneumonia,” he said.

“Therefore, unless somebody had inadequate oxygenation, there is no reason to put someone on a ventilator, which in most cases, according to the scientific evidence, hastened the decline and the deterioration of patients.”

Then another doctor prescribed the man a medication called baricitinib, which has been shown to cause blood clots as a side effect. Nagase said five days after being prescribed the drug, the man died from bilateral blood clots in his lungs, which is “the exact black box warning” associated with baricitinib.

Nagase said neither doctor has been investigated for the death, which he saw as a form of homicide. “Yet, I have been put through the wringer being investigated by Alberta Health Services and the Alberta College, and all three of my patients survive,” he said.

“Where is the justice in that? Individuals calling themselves doctors working in the ivory towers of medicine take actions that result in death, no investigation. But you save three lives, and you get investigated and run out of the medical system,” Nagase said.

“This public health care system—that I’ve known for my entire life—has turned into a death-care system.”