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As the pandemic deepens, physicians face an agonizing decision — to medicate or not to medicate?

Here’s the dilemma: Over the past few weeks, some small studies suggested a decades-old malaria drug called hydroxychloroquine may have the potential to combat the novel coronavirus known as Covid-19. And as the results trickled out, the tablet has become more valuable than gold.

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Prescriptions and hospital orders jumped, causing shortages. State pharmacy boards, in fact, claimed some doctors were hoarding the medicine for themselves. President Trump touted the tablet by saying he had a “feeling” it would work. The widely watched conservative TV host Laura Ingraham tweeted that one seriously ill patient recovered like “Lazarus” after being given hydroxychloroquine.

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