It really does not matter if HCQ worked or not. The Placebo effect would have made it worth using. Something that shuts doctors up fast. So you would rather give them nothing and tell them to go home and hope they don't die or here is a pill that may help you or at the very least give you a placebo...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/placebo-effect-grows-in-u-s-thwarting-development-of-painkillers/