State: Brighton Rehab nursing home failed to get proper approval to use hydroxychloroquine on residents

Residents of a Beaver County nursing home that is the site of one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the country were given an experimental drug without approval from the state health department, inspection records show.

Hydroxychloroquine, typically used to treat malaria, was administered to 205 of the 435 residents of Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center as of April 29, according to a June 18 inspection report recently made public by the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

The treatment was part of medical research to determine whether hydroxychloroquine, when taken with zinc, can prevent covid-19, according to the inspection report. The health department concluded Brighton “failed to obtain the necessary approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Health prior to administering a medication that is not generally accepted practice in the medical community,” the inspection report said.

Officials from the state health department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hydroxychloroquine is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for the coronavirus but had been administered as an emergency, experimental treatment for covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. The FDA revoked that emergency authorization June 15.

Brighton officials defended the use of hydroxychloroquine.

“Since the onset of covid-19, Brighton has followed the guidance of government health care officials and physicians,” a statement signed by Brighton Facility Management said. “Like any drug, hydroxychloroquine would have to be prescribed by a treating physician. Facility staff only assist with administering medications.”

The statement went on to say the treatment was prescribed following the FDA emergency use authorization issued in March “with the full consent of residents and/or their legal guardians.”

“After the FDA revoked the EUA, physicians immediately ended this practice and ceased prescribing it,” the statement said.

Studies that followed have shown the drug is not effective in treating or preventing covid-19.

The drug’s known side effects can include heart complications such as irregular heart rhythm, low blood pressure and muscle or nerve damage.

A class-action lawsuit filed in April against the state health department alleged a lack of oversight by the state allowed Brighton to perform drug experiments on patients.

Jodi Gill, whose 81-year-old father with dementia is a resident at Brighton, was the main plaintiff in the lawsuit.

Gill, of Ambridge, said she was coerced by Brighton staff to sign a consent form permitting the hydroxychloroquine and zinc treatment.

That lawsuit was dropped in early July after the state health department began expanding efforts related to testing, contact tracing, monitoring residents at nursing homes, staff training and supplies of personal protective gear.

Gill still called the lawsuit a victory and said she believes it prompted state and federal lawmakers to get involved and may have spurred the health department to take action on testing and inspections.

President Trump earlier this year touted hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for the coronavirus and made headlines this week as he again promoted the drug on Twitter.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, pushed back against the president Tuesday, the Associated Press reported.

“I go along with the FDA,” Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “The overwhelming prevailing clinical trials that have looked at the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine have indicated that it is not effective in coronavirus disease.”