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Re: Don't try this at home!(SmithKline/Paxil suit) » stjames

Posted by kazoo on June 8, 2001, at 2:42:15

In reply to Re: Don't try this at home!(SmithKline/Paxil suit), posted by stjames on June 8, 2001, at 1:12:19

> One of the early Prozac cases that made sensational headlines and had everyone worked up.
> The press never mentioned the outcome. The patient
> withheld a history of significant mental illness, in patient treatment, and sucide attempts from the doc and through the trial till the other side
> produced documents to these facts.
>
^^^^^^^^
What you're referring to here is the Joseph Wesbecker incident that happened in 1989. Wesbecker, a 47 year old printing press operator, went on a "spree killing" at the Standard Gravure printing plant in Louisville, Kentucky. Yes, he was depressed and stressed to the max, and out on disability leave, and it was a combination of all these factors (job, money, family, divorce, etc.) that he sought psychiatric help for relief to begin with. He was subsequently given PROZAC, which only served to exacerbate this host of pre-existing conditions. Though the press may not have reported the outcome of the case, the book did: "The Power to Harm: mind, medicine and murder on trial," by John Cornwell (1996)...the plaintiffs (survivors) in the case lost to the dubious legal wranglings of Eli Lilly's legal machine. This is an excellent book, one which I can recommend for anyone interested in this subject, because it's an exercise in the nearly infinite number of variables associated with the mind and chemicals ... it pits psychopharmacology against known/unknown pathological behavior. The interesting aspect of this particular case was that CRIMINAL CHARGES were lodged against Lilly in addition to CIVIL CHARGES.


> I do not think a settlement proves anything.
^^^^^^^^^
Not so! What a settlement of this kind does is two-fold: it sets a precedent, and it creates a "shadow of doubt" in the minds of the public (and legal system) about the relationship of these drugs and violence (in certain individuals). And it also serves notice that more research must be done to determine why some people, in the process of getting "help," actually get worse and do horrible things. The remedy *is* worse than the malady when people are slaughtered.


> I do not think we can hold pdocs responsible for not being able to read minds. Given the usual HMO allowed short consult, how can they tell if the patient is not telling the truth or has more serious issues that they will not speak about ?
> I am not relesaing pdoc from all responsibility here but dxing and treating mental illness is a science based almost totally on what the patient says, and is at such more art than science.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's far more scientific than you think, my friend! A QUALIFIED doctor can pretty much tell when a person is lying (at least during those times I've tried), and even so, via the use of inductive reasoning (meaning based on previous actions/behavior as in the Wesbecker case), the use of drugs should weigh heavily on the doctor's course of therapy; however, not all doctors are the same, some more competent, sensitive and compassionate than others. So, in addition to more research about the effects of these drugs on certain people, a screening, or filtering, system should be in place to weed out those physicians who are incompetent, or are restricted time-wise to prevent digging deeper into their patient's past.

I guess "doctor shopping" has a new meaning now and isn't as bad as we think.

But, all-in-all, james, I do agree with what you say.

(a crabby) kazoo


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