Third Circuit sides with NIH on ivermectin deception
Yesterday, October 13, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court decision to dismiss Yim v. NIH. In doing so, the Third Circuit sided with the NIH in its grotesque deception that an expert panel had endorsed its non-recommendation on ivermectin for use in COVID. Yim v. NIH was filed to compel the NIH to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The appeal was based on evidence of uncertainty as to whether the NIH had been responsive to the FOIA request. In its Opinion, the court found the evidence “unavailing”.
FOIA cases may involve a catch-22 scenario in which the court is unable to determine if the federal agency has been forthcoming in its response to the request because the agency has not even disclosed enough to make that determination. However, in the absence of certainty that the federal agency has been responsive to the request, the court is required by law to side with the FOIA requester.
In this case, the actions of the NIH were a sad parody of a functioning governmental agency. The agency submitted falsified documents to the court as evidence, responded to the FOIA request with a URL address whose content frequently changes and was unable to provide a signed version of a statement provided by their legal representative. In a word, it is patently obvious that something funny was going on.
There still remain some legal options that need to be assessed. At this point, however, I can only say that I am disgusted with these courts.