A Vero Beach osteopath who prescribed ivermectin to his patients as a treatment for COVID-19 is suing a local pharmacist for slander, claiming the pharmacist discouraged his patients from taking ivermectin and suggested they seek a prescription for Paxlovid instead.
The pharmacist claims he was just exercising his First Amendment right to free speech and is asking Circuit Judge Cynthia Cox to dismiss the case as meritless.
Christopher D. Olenek, owner and principal medical doctor of Eastside Urgent Care, claims in the three-count complaint that Gregory DeCrescenzo, owner and president of Perkins Indian River Pharmacy, came to resent him over their difference of opinion about effective treatments for Covid, and “began to actively discourage some of (Olenek’s) patients who came to (the pharmacy) … from continuing to be (his) patients.”
The two also disagreed about the potential benefits and risks of the Covid vaccines, the complaint says. Olenek is seeking more than $50,000 in damages. He is represented by attorney Kenneth J. Manney of Vero Beach. DeCrescenzo is represented by Vero Beach attorney Aaron V. Johnson. Both men declined to comment for this story. The case is set for a non-jury trial sometime in July, according to court documents.
In Count I, Olenek alleges that DeCrescenzo told one patient in the summer of 2023 not to see Olenek because “he is always on vacation, see a different doctor instead,” or words to that effect.
Count II claims that in May 2024, DeCrescenzo told another patient, “Dr. Olenek is the only doctor prescribing ivermectin. Everyone else is prescribing Paxlovid to treat Covid,” or words to that effect, the suit alleges.
Count III alleges that in September 2024, DeCrescenzo told another of Olenek’s patients, “Dr. Olenek does not provide urgent care services any longer,” or words to that effect.
Olenek “has suffered embarrassment, humiliation and mental anguish as a result of (DeCrescenzo’s) false and malicious statements” which were made “for the purpose of harming (Olenek’s) reputation in the medical field and destroying (Olenek’s) business income,” the complaint says.
In his answer to the complaint, DeCrescenzo denies making the comments contained in the three counts and says that any statements he did make were made in good faith and that, under the First Amendment, “statements that cannot be proven true or false and are presented as subjective opinions do not constitute slander.”
DeCrescenzo’s attorney also claims that he is protected by state and federal anti-SLAPP laws – legislation designed to protect free speech by allowing defendants to dismiss meritless lawsuits if they involve protected speech on a matter of public concern. SLAPP stands for “strategic lawsuits against public participation.”
Florida’s general anti-SLAPP provision, Statute 768.295, was adopted in 2000 and expanded in 2015. If Cox agrees to dismiss the case based on this law, DeCrescenzo will be entitled to recover attorney’s fees and costs.
Ivermectin proved controversial during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Discovered in 1975, Ivermectin is approved by the FDA to treat people with some intestinal parasitic worms. But the FDA does not authorize it for preventing or treating Covid-19 in humans or animals and has determined that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against Covid-19 in humans.
A randomized clinical trial in 2022-23 of 1432 infected adults did not support the use of ivermectin for patients with Covid-19, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Paxlovid is a combination of the antiviral drugs nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. It was approved in December 2021 by the FDA under Emergency Use Authorization for those who are at high risk for progression to severe infection.