The Washington Medical Commission (WMC) has restricted the license of Lewis County-based physician Guito Cassagnol Wingfield following a hearing in June, according to a news release.
The WMC found that Wingfield prescribed ivermectin to five patients for COVID-19 infection “without documenting a sufficient rationale for prescribing the medication, without informing the patients that the medication is off-label and not FDA-approved to prevent or treat COVID, without performing an appropriate risk stratification analysis of the patients’ medical conditions, and without discussing alternative treatments with the patients,” according to the release.
The WMC issued a final order restricting Wingfield from prescribing ivermectin for non-FDA-approved indications and restricting him from prescribing medication or providing care to patients without first establishing a physician-patient relationship by seeing the patient in-person or via real-time video, taking the patient’s history and examining the patient.
In addition to the restrictions, the order requires Wingfield to inform eligible patients that monoclonal antibodies “are available and effective to treat a COVID-19 infection, and that COVID-19 vaccinations are effective at preventing severe disease.”
Wingfield must also review the Centers for Disease Control website and the UpToDate website for current guidelines; take continuing medical education on the prevention, treatment and management of COVID-19; complete an ethics course; complete a record-keeping course; and pay a fine of $5,000.
Legal documents for the case are available at https://fortress.wa.gov/doh/providercredentialsearch/.
