A U.S. Senate roundtable has heard testimony from patients, relatives, doctors and nurses who alleged that pandemic-era hospital protocols contributed to deaths, restricted treatment options and limited families’ involvement in medical decisions.
The hearing, convened by Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, featured 21 witnesses who recounted their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson said his office had received 583 testimonies from people in 46 states as of September 26.
One witness, Brad Seiler, described his efforts to have his wife, Gail, discharged from hospital after staff allegedly told him she was “unsavable.”
Seiler said that when Gail was eventually released, hospital staff prevented the couple from leaving through the main entrance. Instead, he said, she was taken through a freight elevator used to transport bodies to the morgue and escorted out through an exit normally used by funeral homes.
According to Seiler, a nurse warned him that Gail would die that night or before they reached home. She survived.
“Today, Gail is alive, healthy, active, and enjoying life with our grandchildren and children,” he told the roundtable.
Stephanie Williamson of New Jersey also testified about the death of her husband, Dave. She alleged that she was pressured into consenting to his intubation and that family members were excluded from important decisions.
“My children never saw their father again. Dave’s dad never saw his son,” she said.
Florida nurse Donna Lowery said she lost her job after 31 years because she advocated for a hospitalized patient and recommended ivermectin. She claimed the patient deteriorated after the medication was stopped and subsequently died.
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Physician John Littell, who said he faced disciplinary action over prescribing ivermectin, told the panel that doctors should advocate for patients who believe they have been abandoned by the healthcare system.
Attorney Ralph Lorigo described lawsuits he brought on behalf of families seeking access to ivermectin for hospitalized COVID-19 patients. He said courts in some cases ordered hospitals to provide the drug.
Claims about ivermectin outcomes presented during the event remain disputed. Investigative journalist Michael Capuzzo cited cases handled by Lorigo and reported high survival among patients who received ivermectin, while also claiming that patients whose families failed to obtain court orders all died. Such accounts represent the testimony and interpretation of the participants and do not, by themselves, establish ivermectin’s effectiveness as a COVID-19 treatment.
Johnson said the testimonies raise broader questions about medical decision-making during the pandemic.
“This is about medical freedom and the right to try,” Lorigo said, arguing that the controversy extended beyond COVID-19 and ivermectin.
Johnson said fear surrounding the emerging virus contributed to government leaders exercising what he described as excessive control over the healthcare response.
The senator said his office would continue collecting testimonies and publishing them. He described the accounts as difficult to read and said the hearing was intended to create a record of patients’ and families’ experiences.
Advocates at the event called for Congress to obtain hospital protocols and revisions issued during the pandemic, alongside relevant medical records and testimony from clinicians, hospital executives and federal health officials.
The proposed review would shift the focus from individual accounts to documentary evidence that could help establish how hospital policies were developed, changed and implemented during the pandemic.