Reblogged from Prepare for Change
Major pharmaceutical companies have spent hundreds of millions of dollars covering up lawsuits over suicides and mass murders caused by popular antidepressants.
Every time there are reports of a mass shooting, there are a number of people who automatically question whether the suspect had mental health issues or was taking prescription medications such as antidepressants.
While history has shown that the most notorious mass shooters in this century were taking antidepressants or Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) before they carried out the deadly rampages, there are a number of killings that have been linked directly to the dangerous drugs. In fact, the pharmaceutical companies behind the most popular SSRI’s have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in damages:
Eli Lilly Paid Secret Settlements to Survivors After Man on Prozac Went on Shooting Rampage in 1989
Joseph T. Wesbecker, 47, carried out a mass shooting in which he shot 20 workers at Standard Gravure Corp. in Kentucky, in September 1989. Eight of the victims were fatally wounded, and Wesbecker ended the rampage by shooting and killing himself.
Just one month earlier, Wesbecker had started taking the antidepressant Prozac, which included side effects such as “obsession with suicide and dangerously violent behavior,” according to an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
When the survivors of the shooting filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly arguing that it had known about the propensity of Prozac to cause violent outbursts and suicidal tendencies, the company convinced the victims to agree to secret settlements outside of court.
GlaxoSmithKline Paid $6.4 Million to the Family of a Man Who Murdered Three Family Members Hours After Taking Paxil in 1998
Donald Schell, 60, was prescribed the antidepressant Paxil to treat depression in Wyoming in February 1998. Within hours of taking the first dosage, he burst into a fit of rage and fatally shot his wife, Rita; their daughter, Deborah Tobin; and their 9-month-old granddaughter, Alyssa.
Schell then shot and killed himself. His remaining family members filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company behind Paxil, and they were awarded $6.4 million based on “the company’s failure to sufficiently warn doctors and patients that the effects of the drug could include agitation and violence.”
GlaxoSmithKline Also Paid $3 Million to the Widow of a Man Who Committed Suicide After Taking Paxil in 2010
Stewart Dolin, 57, was working as a corporate attorney in Illinois when he was prescribed the generic version of the antidepressant Paxil for depression and anxiety. While taking the drug, he committed suicide by jumping in front of a Chicago Transit Authority train.
His widow, Wendy Dolin, filed a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, arguing that the company failed to warn her husband’s doctor that the drug he was being prescribed would increase his risk of suicidal behavior, which led to his death.
“This for me has not just been about the money. This has always been about awareness to a health issue, and the public has to be aware of this,” Wendy Dolin told the Chicago Tribune after she was awarded $3 million in compensation.
While the cases mentioned above are notable because they received significant media attention, there is still an overwhelming number of lawsuits that stemmed from cases in which pharmaceutical companies paid millions of dollars for failing to warn doctors that the antidepressants they were prescribing could drive patients to kill themselves and others.
According to reports, the first lawsuit involving a Paxil suicide case went to trial in 2001, and since then, GlaxoSmithKline has paid more than $390 million in settlements or verdicts for Paxil-related cases. If that is the price they are willing to pay, then the profit they are making off of the controversial drug must be incredible.
A patient cured is a customer lost. It’s all about the money.
academic medicine and hospitalization would be a nightmare for me.
holistic care and fasting twice a year is my health guarantee vor 25 years now.
Have you ever checked the site AskaPatient? Ordinary folks can tell their reactions to various drugs. The rates are from 1 (the worst!) to 5. It’s amazing how Big Pharma gets away with this stuff. *_*
https://www.askapatient.com/viewrating.asp?drug=76180&name=LISINOPRIL
Make that Big Pharty Pharma. *_*
In addition to antidepressants, some of the widely prescribed antibiotics can also cause shocking suicidal tendencies. I knew a very healthy and happy man who killed himself after taking an antibiotic for urinary tract infection.
That’s a serious issue. I’ve never heard that before.
It was probably Bayer’s Cipro or Johnson & Johson’s Levaquin, a class of anti-biotics called fluoroquinolone’s. Cipro currently has 4 FDA Black Box warning indicators. The first, issued in 2008 was for tendon, esp Achilles rupture & the 4th in 2013 for peripheral neuropathy, one of the side effects of chemotherapy. People have been known to be permanently disabled after taking only 2-3 pills and there are support recovery groups all over the planet This drug should only be used for serious last resort infections like Anthrax but is routinely given out for common infections such as UTI’s.
In 2013 I was issued 6 Cipro pills for a UTI. On the 2nd day I noticed dizziness & the 3rd day my ankle tendons & toes seized. Fortunately I had some magnesium cream on hand and was able to slowly loosen them up & prevent a rupture. I then read the 10 page fine print side effects & instructions. Under Central Nervous System Effects, it states “CNS side effects may happen as soon as after taking the first dose of Cipro” & one should contact your health provider if you get any of these side effects:
Feel dizzy
Seizures
Hear voices, see things, or sense things that are not there (hallucinations)
Feel restless
Tremors
Feel anxious or nervous
Confusion
Depression
Trouble sleeping
Nightmares
Feel more suspicious (paranoid)
SUICIDAL THOUGHTS OR ACTS
You are really up on this, Nancy. Good warning.
“….& one should contact your health provider if you get any of these side effects:”
– – – – –
Which is what the idiot TV commercials always say. “Call your doctor right away if….” So what happens if a call is made to said doctor’s office? You might hear a recording saying the office is closed or whatever, and to get your dying bod to the ER instead. Humbug. *_*
When I was a kid I had a bad reaction to the cough medicine Robitussin. Scary hallucinations, etc. I’ve never done well with ANY drugs. Best to avoid docs and their inevitable prescriptions. *spits on floor…well, no, not really* *_*
https://www.rxlist.com/robitussin-ac-side-effects-drug-center.htm
I knew some kids in high school who would drink robitussin to have psychedelic trips. I guess they would drink a bunch, puke their guts out and see weird stuff. No thanks.