PENNSYLVANIA, USA — A doctor who has allegedly been prescribing non-FDA approved COVID-19 treatments has been fired.
The alleged scheme in which the doctor was providing these treatments has come to life in recent days via social media, specifically in videos posted by Christine Mason on the Taste of Sicily Facebook page.
On Tuesday, FOX43 reported officials were looking into allegations of misconduct against Taste of Sicily, stemming from Mason's Facebook live videos.
Sivana Drill, Mason's mother and the owner of the restaurant, says that Mason has not worked for Taste of Sicily, but Mason controls and routinely posts on the Taste of Sicily Facebook page.
In a video posted on the Taste of Sicily Facebook page on Jan. 26, Mason can be seen telling people to "read between the lines" and that she has "life-saving information."
Mason claims in the video she has a "resource that can save your life if you're sick," and encourages people to reach out to her for more information.
In the video, Mason says that she has "H" or "I" and you can "get it tomorrow" because it "ships from Pennsylvania."
Hydroxychloroquine, another non-FDA approved treatment for COVID-19, has come under attention in recent months as well.
In a separate video, Mason says that people don't have to pay her, but she suggests a donation.
Finally, in a TikTok video posted by @gumbasman121, Mason's husband can be seen saying he got COVID-19, "but thank god my wife got me Ivermectin."
A video posted by @thatdaneshguy on Twitter, accuses Taste of Sicily of helping distribute prescriptions of Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic, via prescriptions from an unknown doctor.
When FOX43 reached out to Taste of Sicily for comment, they responded that Mason was awaiting advice from a lawyer before responding to the accusations.
She has defended her position in subsequent videos posted on Facebook.
“People are saying, 'Oh my God. You're gonna' go to jail.' For what? You can't go to jail when you've done nothing wrong,” she said in a video posted on Feb. 1.
On Thursday, FOX43 learned that @thatdaneshguy linked the Taste of Sicily Facebook page to a Dr. Edith Behr, a surgeon based in Pottstown, and Capstone Compounding Pharmacy in Wyomissing.
We could not verify that Behr is working with Mason, but Behr was fired from her job at Tower Health on Wednesday after it was alleged that she had been writing prescriptions for Ivermcectin or hydroxychloroquine. She still owns a Medspa in Trooper.
Attempts to contact Behr were unsuccessful, but Tower Health released the following statement on Behr's dismissal:
“Tower Health became aware yesterday of the allegations involving Dr. Edith Behr prescribing Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine for the treatment of COVID-19. We investigated the matter and, as a result, Dr. Behr’s employment with Tower Health Medical Group has been terminated effective immediately.
Neither Ivermectin nor Hydroxychloroquine has been approved by the FDA for prevention or treatment for COVID-19.”
When we reached out to the Wyomissing pharmacy, they released the following statement:
“Due to ongoing harassment received from outside sources toward our company and staff, we are deciding to discontinue compounding unique, patient-specific oral dosage forms of the drug ivermectin. As a compounding pharmacy, we are here to help any patient whose doctor determines that they are a candidate for a customized treatment option. We look forward to continuing to work with our patients and providers in the same ethical, legal, compassionate way that we always have. Thank you for your understanding in this matter.”
According to defense attorney Nick Oberheiden, anyone involved in a scheme like this could face professional or legal penalties.
"The government may make the claim that these patients were specifically recruited and assigned to a physician who without the appropriate due diligence if you will, was then essentially just rubber stamping approvals," Oberheiden explains.
FOX43 reached out to the Pa. Attorney General's Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's Office, the Pa. Dept. of Agriculture, the Lebanon County District Attorney's Office and the Palmyra Borough Police Department to see if an investigation into the allegations was underway.
On Tuesday, the Pa. Attorney General's Office has confirmed that the Palmyra police have referenced the case to them, but they "cannot confirm or deny our office's involvement in the investigation."
Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graff responded Tuesday with the following statement:
Yesterday my office received phone calls and emails which made various complaints against Taste of Sicily; the majority of those were done anonymously. We reached out to law enforcement and inquired if any additional complaints were made to individual police departments. Police indicated they received complaints, and a preliminary investigation showed allegations of misconduct which potentially spanned multiple counties. Our jurisdiction covers only Lebanon County. A referral to the Attorney General’s Office was already made by the police department itself. As a result, we did not take any further steps on the matter. The AG maintains statewide jurisdiction and thus is the appropriate entity to look into multiple-county criminal allegations.
Pier Hess Graf, District Attorney
FOX43 has not heard back from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration or the Pa. Dept. of Agriculture as of this posting.