FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — A lawsuit filed by detainees in the Washington County Jail who claim they were given Ivermectin to treat Covid symptoms has been settled and dismissed.

In 2022, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit against the Washington County Detention Center, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder, Dr. Robert Karas and Karas Correctional Health (KCH).

The lawsuit claims the defendants were giving Ivermectin to inmates in the detention center without prior informed consent as to the nature, contents or potential side effects of the drug.

“To have been told it was antibiotics steroids, and vitamins unconscionable…it’s unconstitutional and it’s unconscionable,” said ACLU of Arkansas executive director Holly Dickson.

Edrick Floreal-Wooten, Jeremiah Little, Julio Gonzales, Dayman Blackburn and Thomas Fritch are the inmates named in the lawsuit who were allegedly experimented on.

The ACLU release notes that the plaintiffs treated with the Ivermectin received a monetary settlement of $2,000 each.

According to a release from the ACLU, the court order stated that Karas prescribed Ivermectin to two sets of patients in his private clinic who agreed to take the drug.

The court recognized that Karas prescribed higher dosages of the drug to unwitting patients detained in WCDC than he did his private patients, according to the release.

According to Dickson the detainees experienced side effects from the drug.

“They had intestinal problems, they had pinkeye and other negative side effects,” said Dickson.

In a press release Dickson stated, ““These men are incredibly courageous and resilient to stand up to the abusive, inhumane experimentation they endured at the Washington County Detention Center.”

“The experimental use of Ivermectin without the knowledge and consent of these patients was a grave violation of medical ethics and the rights of the patients and these brave clients prevented further violation of not only their own rights, but those of others detained in WCDC,” Dickson added.

The suit, first filed in January 2022, was scheduled to have its final pretrial conference on Nov. 3 and to go to trial on Nov. 13.