Sara Carlin – death by Paxil

I came across the above named video, ‘Sara Carlin – death by Paxil’, on Bob Fiddaman’s website Seroxat Sufferers.

Bob has been following the inquest into the death of Sara Carlin. Yesterday the jury returned its findings.

In a  phone conversation between Neil Carlin (Sara’s father) and Bob, Neil explained that both he and his wife “…are extremely pleased with the outcome of the inquest into our beloved Sara’s Paxil related suicide with the recommendations that the jury have given in their verdict.” He added, “The jury were under very strict restraints in their ability to name or blame any party in this inquest, including the three doctors from Oakville Ontario Canada – and the drug company GlaxoSmithKline – maker of the SSRI antidepressant Paxil.”

Neil went on, “We feel that through the breadth & depth of their 16 recommendations, the jury has carefully listened to the evidence they have heard over these past several weeks & through the quality of those recommendations have identified the root cause of Sara’s death. It is our belief if these recommendations are implemented & followed in the future, that they will surely avoid the tragic waste of young life as occurred in our Sara’s case.”

I suggest you read the rest of the post here.

And here are links to more detail on the story:

Sara Carlin Inquest – Latest

Sara Carlin Inquest – Failure of Oakville Medical Profession

Sara Carlin – ‘Death by Paxil’ Inquest – The ‘Expert’

Sara Carlin Inquest – Coroner’s Witness In U-Turn… And That Man Shaffer!

SARA CARLIN Ontario, Canada

Coroner’s Inquest – Glaxo & Friends Vs The Carlin Family

Sara Carlin Inquest – Local MP Slams GlaxoSmithKline

SARA CARLIN PAXIL INQUEST VIDEO FOOTAGE

SARA CARLIN PAXIL INQUEST GLOBAL TV NEWS

SARA CARLIN INQUEST – What The Jury Should Know

Sara Carlin Inquest – “Paxil likely played important role in teen’s suicide”

Sara Carlin Inquest – The Eli Lilly ‘Links’ & Today’s Recommendations.

**Exclusive – Sara Carlin Inquest: The Bias Of Coroner’s Counsel, Michael Blain & Coroner, Bert Lauwers?

Sara Carlin Inquest – We Know How, Now Tell us Why!

Dying In Their Sleep: The Invisible Plague Attacking U.S. Soldiers

This from Cilla McCain writing for the Huffington Post – it’s the story of the shocking use of medication by the US military and of course features Seroxat (paxil):

While doing research for the book Murder In Baker Company, I came to know many military family members from the support group “Home of the Brave.” The group’s goal is to help one another gain information and justice in the noncombat related deaths of their loved ones. According to the Department of Defense nearly 1 out of 4 fatalities in the military are noncombat related.

Stan and Shirley White of West Virginia represent one of the “Home of the Brave” families. Three of their four children have served in the armed forces. Two have died because of their time in war. On September 26, 2005, their son Robert, an Army Staff Sergeant, was killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan. On February 12, 2008, their youngest son, 23 year-old Marine Corporal Andrew White died in his sleep after being treated for PTSD with lethal prescription drugs.

Struggling with PTSD compounded by grief over the death of his brother, Andrew sought help from VA doctors. Their first line of defense was to prescribe him 20 mg. of Paxil, 4 mg of Klonopin and 50 mg of Seroquel. These medications helped at first, but later proved ineffective. Instead of changing the course of treatment, the doctors responded by continually increasing his dosage until the Seroquel alone reached a whopping 1600 mg per day. Within weeks of Andrew’s death, three more young West Virginia veterans died while being treated for PTSD with the same drugs, prompting Stan and Shirley White to begin a mission to find out what the deaths have in common.

“When we first learned of the other West Virginia soldiers who died in their sleep,” Stan says. “We thought it must be a reaction to biological warfare, we thought they must have been exposed to something in Iraq and now it is killing them.”

Indeed, if you conduct an internet search with the phrase “soldier found dead” the results are staggering. Narrow it down even further by including the phrase “unexplained” and you will begin to get a glimpse of what some would call an epidemic.

When the White’s received Andrew’s autopsy report, the official cause was listed as “accidental intoxication of Seroquel, Paxil, and pain medication.” Andrew had not committed suicide, nor did he take his medication in a manner it was not prescribed. Death, as it turned out, is a potential side effect of Seroquel. The doctors and the pharmaceutical company knew that, however nobody told Andrew, despite the fact that he was experiencing many of Seroquel’s most serious side effects.

In the 11-months Andrew was taking Seroquel, he gained 40 lbs., suffered from tremors, severe constipation and swelling of the mammary glands. Before his death, a VA doctor referred Andrew to an endocrinologist for tests to determine the cause of his symptoms, even though it is clearly stated in Seroquel’s literature that all of this can be caused by using the drug.

Andrew passed away before the appointment.

Dr. Fred Baughman, a neurologist and outspoken critic on the use of anti-psychotic drugs has studied the West Virginia soldier deaths and has determined that “sudden cardiac death” is the cause. In a May 2010 press release, Dr. Baughman states:

“All were diagnosed with PTSD. All seemed “normal” when they went to bed. And, all were on Seroquel (an antipsychotic) Paxil (an antidepressant) and Klonopin (a benzodiazepine). They were not comatose and unarousable — with pulse and respirations or pulse intact, responsive to CPR, surviving transport to a hospital, frequently surviving. These were sudden cardiac deaths.”

Between the VA medical doctors and psychiatrists Andrew was going to for help, none tried to assess the effectiveness of these drugs on his PTSD symptoms. They just kept increasing the dosage as if he were a guinea pig in some twisted lab experiment. Whether sudden cardiac death, polypharmacy, or suicide, a prescription tracking system could be a major step toward preventing tragedy.

To that end, in March 2010, Senator Jim Webb of Virginia called on the Surgeons General from the Department of Defense to provide data regarding prescription drugs in the military. This vital information was never received despite repeated requests, so on June 9, 2010, Senator Webb released a public statement calling on the DOD to finally adhere to the request:

Three months ago in an Armed Services hearing, Army Surgeon General Schoomaker downplayed media reports of skyrocketing prescription drug use of those serving in the Army. I am still waiting to see existing data across services and a judgment of these findings.

Webb’s statement went on to say:

A reporting requirement has been added to the FY 2011 National Defense Authorization Act requiring the DOD to keep health records that detail the prescription and administration of psychotropic medications.

There are many possible reasons why an avalanche of prescriptions are befalling our soldiers with no accountability even as those drugs kill. Financial gain by medical personnel of the DOD is one of the most serious allegations being examined and I will continue to follow this matter.

Let us hope the powers that be do not continue to stall and downplay the seriousness of this issue.

I shudder to think of how many more young, vibrant soldiers will die in their sleep in the meantime.

The MHRA and Glaxo’s solicitiors – just how close are they?

There’s some very interesting news at Seroxat Sufferers. Bob Fiddaman has been writing a series of posts about the identities of the expert witnesses that Glaxo are using to defend themselves against the High Court action.

It’s all a bit too cosy and I defy anyone to describe Glaxo’s experts as independent (which they should be under English law).

Anyway, last Friday afternoon Bob noticed some visits to his blog – at 16.37hrs the MHRA looked in and started read the posts about Glaxo’s ‘independent’ witnesses – then 41 seconds later, in what could only be a coincidence of the most massive proportions, you can see Glaxo’s solicitors Addleshaw Goddard, reading the exact same post.

I wonder what the chances are of that happening?

Millions to one, I’d imagine. Or maybe even billions to one….

Unless, of course, there is a connection between the two organisations and they share common interests.

I’d like Addleshaw Goddard to explain this one to me.

The posts are here, here, here and here.

Enjoy.

Glaxo & the MHRA; the MHRA & Glaxo…

I’ve always questioned exactly where big pharma ends and the regulators begin.

Certainly the MHRA (the UK’s medicines watchdog) has always had VERY close ties to the drug industry, and I mean VERY close.

The revolving door that connects the MHRA and GlaxoSmithKline (in particular) has always been well used.

The Chairman of the MHRA, Alasdair Breckenridge, is a former employee of GSK (then known as SmithKline Beecham), as is the Head of Licensing at the MHRA, Dr. Ian Hudson.

Breckenridge has a track record of publically supporting Seroxat (but not really very well!)… Hudson is much more interesting – he worked at SmithKline Beecham for 11 years (Glaxo 2 weeks) as Worldwide Director of Safety. He then joined the MHRA as its Head of Drug Licensing.

During his time at SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo he had “significant involvement” with a number of drugs, especially Paroxetine (Seroxat) and two others. We know this because of this document – Ian Hudson Interests – which he filled in before joined the European Medicines Agency.

I’ve mentioned it before, but Hudson is such an authority on Seroxat that Glaxo actually used him as one of their defence witnesses in the famous Tobin/Schell case (he gave evidence for Glaxo alongside David Wheadon). And to this day we still don’t know if Wheadon was guilty of perjury in that court.

However by 2005, Hudson was not so keen on talking…

A House of Commons Health Select Committee wanted to hear evidence from the MHRA specifically about Seroxat trial data and safety, Professor Alaisdair Breckenridge (MHRA Chairman), Professor Kent Woods (MHRA CEO) and June Raine (MHRA Director of Vigilence and Risk Management) all managed to attend the hearing.

MPs had expected to be able to question Ian Hudson as well… unfortunately Dr Hudson could not attend as he had… a prior engagement.

A prior engagement!? Hudson is the one man who knows more about Seroxat’s secrets than anyone outside of GlaxoSmithKline.

A prior engagement? – don’t make me laugh, Ian.

Now, in 2010 we see more evidence of the revolving door between the MHRA and Glaxo in the company’s choice of expert witnesses to appear in the High Court.

The tireless Bob Fiddaman at Seroxat Sufferers has discovered some very interesting facts about Glaxo’s expert witnesses.

One is Dr. Rashmi Shah is the owner of Rashmi Shah Consultancy Ltd. Shah was employed by the MHRA between 1987 and 2004. Positions held were: Senior Medical Officer, Senior Clinical Assessor and Senior Medical Assessor.

I would be very interested to know 1): who are the current clients of Rashmi Shah Consultancy Ltd and 2): which company was its first client back in 2004…

I’d put money on the answers being – 1): GlaxoSmithKline and 2): GlaxoSmithKline

But this is only the start – Bob Fiddaman is promising revalations about other Glaxo ‘expert witnesses’ in the near future – keep on checking back at Seroxat Sufferers.

You want more evidence of the cosy relationship between the MHRA and Glaxo?

What happened when the MHRA found that Glaxo had hidden negative trial data?… The MHRA announced, in March 2008, that GlaxoSmithKline would not face prosecution for deliberately withholding trial data, which revealed not only that Seroxat was ineffective at treating childhood depression but also that it increased the risk of suicidal behaviour in this patient group. The decision not to prosecute followed a four and a half year investigation and was taken on the grounds that the law at the relevant time was insufficiently clear.”

You want more evidence of the cosy relationship between the MHRA and Glaxo?

How about MHRA staff co-operate with Glaxo to monitor critical comment on the internet..

Derrick Bird: What motivated the Cumbria gunman?

There’s an article in today’s Guardian about Derrick Bird’s motivation.

Police conceded last night that they might never know exactly what made Derrick Bird – a seemingly sociable, outgoing man who had just become a grandfather – shoot dead his twin brother and 11 other people, many seemingly at random, in a succession of towns and villages around west Cumbria.

Speaking to reporters late last night, Deputy Chief Constable Stuart Hyde from Cumbria police said his force would have to painstakingly piece together all the details of Bird’s life.

“That involves understanding what he has been through, his family circumstances, a whole range of things before we can make judgments,” he said. “And it may well be that we never actually find that out. But hopefully by speaking to people, looking at his history we will be able to figure out what caused this.”

The first thing I wonder, as I do whenever I hear about stories like this, is, was Derrick Bird being treated with an SSRI/SNRI such as Seroxat?

I don’t know the answer, but we have the right to ask the question and the louder Glaxo shouts about Seroxat having “no proven link to violence”, the more I want to know the truth.

As Peter Breggin wrote in an article about the Virgina Tech masssacre; “For the past fifteen years or more, I’ve been writing about the capacity of psychiatric drugs to cause mayhem, murder and suicide. In early 2005 the FDA finally issued a warning that antidepressants cause both suicidality and violence. For example, the FDA’s mandated warning label for antidepressants states that these drugs produce “anxiety, agitation, panic attacks, insomnia, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity, akathisia (psychomotor restlessness), hypomania, and mania.”

Note the reference to “irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity” in the label or package insert for antidepressants. That’s a formula for violence. Note the mention of akathisia, another source of both violence and suicide. And finally, note the reference to mania, yet another drug-induced syndrome associated with violence and suicide.”

More background here and here and also at SSRI Stories.