Fwd: [drugawareness] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CALLING ALL GOOD ATTORNEYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Guest guest]

drugawareness

atracyphd2

Wed, 24 Mar 2004 03:32:03 EST

[drugawareness] !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!CALLING ALL GOOD ATTORNEY

S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

From the following NEW YORK TIMES article we quote one physician:

 

" We're going to continue to use these drugs pretty freely until we start

seeing the ads in the newspapers from lawyers saying, `Have you or your family

member been prescribed these drugs? If so, you may have a case,' " said Dr.

Phillip Kennedy, a family practice physician in Augusta, Ga. " When the big L

word,

liability, raises its ugly head, that's when things will really change. "

 

So for doctors to understand how serious an issue this is they need to be

herded into court? Well, that sounds like a clear call for all good attorneys to

step forward now! If that is what it takes to save lives, we need attorneys

taking out ads.

 

And I would like to know how on earth Gardner Harris let this statement make

it into his article by a spokesperson for Eli Lilly without asking how

carefully physicians should monitor their patients - as closely as they

monitored

Traci Johnson when she hung herself in their laboratory last month?

 

" Spokesmen for drug companies said that they would emphasize to physicians

that the F.D.A.'s warning did not conclude that antidepressants cause suicide.

" My hope is that people won't make a link with the drugs, " said Jennifer Yoder,

a spokeswoman for Eli Lilly & Company, maker of Prozac. " I think the message

will be that suicide is an inherent part of the disease of depression, and

physicians should carefully monitor their patients. "

 

Your quote was the best Tom. So, why did they save it for last? [Tom and

Kathy Woodward are our PA directors for the International Coalition for Drug

Awareness]

 

Ann Blake Tracy, PhD

Executive Director, International Coalition For Drug Awareness

Author: Prozac: Panacea or Pandora? - Our Serotonin Nightmare

& audio tape on safe withdrawal: " Help! I Can't Get

Off My Antidepressant! " (800-280-0730)

 

Cell: 801-209-1800

E-mail: atracyphd1

Website: www.drugawareness.org

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/24/health/24DEPR.html?pagewanted=2 & ei=5062 &

en=75d76ba44cb666cc & ex=1080795600 & partner=GOOGLE

 

 

Overprescribing Prompted Warning on Antidepressants

 

By DENISE GRADY and GARDINER HARRIS

 

Published: March 24, 2004

 

he government's warning on Monday that people newly taking antidepressants

can become suicidal and must be closely monitored grew at least in part from a

concern that the drugs were being handed out too freely and without enough

follow-up, especially in children and teenagers.

 

Dr. Wayne K. Goodman, chairman of psychiatry at the University of Florida

College of Medicine and a member of an expert panel that advised the Food and

Drug Administration, said, " I think many physicians, and particularly

nonpsychiatrists, have been lulled into the notion that these drugs are safe. "

 

He emphasized that the drugs carried few serious physical side effects and a

low risk of overdose. But, Dr. Goodman added, " I think what's been

underestimated is this behavioral toxicity, which can indirectly lead to

problems,

including possibly suicidal behavior. "

 

Yesterday many doctors acknowledged that the new warning was sound advice and

yet said they worried it might discourage doctors and patients from treating

depression.

 

Dr. Eva Ritvo, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of

Miami, said: " A depressed patient needs to be watched closely, particularly in

the

initial stages of treatment or when the dosage is raised. This is something

we should be doing anyway as mental health professionals. "

 

But, she added, " Untreated depression is dangerous and takes a huge toll on

people's lives, and we can only hope this warning doesn't discourage people

from seeking treatment. "

 

Patients had mixed reactions.

 

Some people who suffered depression in the past but shunned medication said

the new warnings reinforced their wariness.

 

Barry Owen, 51, a magazine consultant in San Francisco, refused

antidepressants during an emotional crisis.

 

He said his doctor recommended the drugs a few years ago " because at that

point I was pretty severely depressed and having panic attacks and couldn't eat

and sleep. " Mr. Owen added: " I decided then not to take her advice. And while I

don't doubt the usefulness for a lot of people, this new information gives me

one more question about them. "

 

But patients who have done well on the drugs were not troubled by the new

warnings. Paul Festa, 33, a San Francisco artist and writer, took Zoloft for

about a year in 1999, and then Paxil for a year or so after the 2001 terrorist

attacks. He said: " I would never hesitate to go back on these medications

because

I already know that I react extremely well to them. I feel like there should

be a warning for people who are depressed that not taking these medications

could lead to suicide. If you're depressed, you're putting yourself at risk for

all sorts of self-destructive behaviors, up to and including suicide.

 

" When I was depressed, the thought of suicide was crossing my mind more than

it ought to have, and the antidepressants got me out of that loop. "

 

The advisory issued Monday by the drug agency asked manufacturers to put

detailed warnings about a possible increased risk of suicidal behavior and the

need for monitoring on the labels of 10 antidepressants: Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil,

Wellbutrin, Luvox, Celexa, Lexapro, Effexor, Serzone and Remeron. The warning

included both children and adults.

 

Studies in children taking the antidepressants have not found an increase in

suicide. But studies of some drugs have suggested that they might increase the

risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Research has also failed to provide

convincing evidence that the drugs are effective in children, making the

potential risks even less acceptable. There is no solid data linking use of the

drugs to suicide in adults.

 

Dr. Goodman of Florida said that panelists who met last month were troubled

by reports that some doctors were giving patients samples of antidepressants

and saying casually " Tell me how you do, " rather than scheduling frequent

follow-up appointments to make sure patients were tolerating the drugs.

 

" That is problematic, " Dr. Goodman said, " and probably reflects people

becoming a little lackadaisical about the downside of these medications in

children. "

 

Most antidepressants are now prescribed by primary care physicians, whose

patients may never see a psychiatrist, because of concerns about cost or the

perception of stigma attached to mental illness. Prozac, Paxil and other modern

antidepressants became hugely popular in part because drug companies convinced

family physicians that they were safe enough to use without a psychiatrist's

intervention. Antidepressants are the third biggest selling category of drugs in

the world behind cholesterol and heartburn pills.

 

Some psychiatrists speculated yesterday that their family-care colleagues

might lose confidence in the drugs and become reluctant to prescribe them.

 

" We're hoping that doesn't happen, because primary care physicians have a

major role to play in combating depression, " said Dr. James H. Scully Jr.,

medical director of the American Psychiatric Association. " We hope they won't be

scared off. "

 

Dr. Robert Lee, a San Francisco physician of holistic medicine who sometimes

prescribes antidepressants, said: " I don't think people already taking them

will be concerned. But a lot of people who I think would benefit from these meds

already won't take them because of various stigma reasons, so I'm a little

concerned that this will raise that barrier even higher. "

 

Dr. Lee said the new warning would not make him hesitate to prescribe the

antidepressants.

 

He said, " People can get agitated from them, but I've never seen somebody get

suicidal from them. "

 

Dr. Joseph Gonzalez-Heydrich, chief of psychopharmacology at Children's

Hospital Boston, said: " I've heard anecdotally that a lot of antidepressants

were

being prescribed by pediatricians without a lot of training or experience. I

think the warning is appropriate. If it makes prescribers more vigilant or

parents more vigilant, that's a good thing. "

 

Dr. Gonzalez-Heydrich said that a sizable minority of children became more

agitated and irritable on the antidepressants in question. " If we see it, we

take them off it or reduce the dose, " he said. " Doing it that way there are a

lot

of kids we feel do benefit from these medications, especially long term. But

they're not for everybody. "

 

Dr. Harold Koplewicz, director of New York University's Child Study Center,

said, " The fear I have about this warning is that many teenagers will not get

the medicine because it will build resistance among their parents, and that's

really a tragic outcome. " He noted that suicide rates in teenagers had gone

down in the United States and Sweden as use of the drugs increased.

 

Several primary care doctors said that they had prescribed antidepressants

with success for so many years that it was unlikely the F.D.A.'s new warnings

would lead them to stop. Still, the warnings have given them pause, they said.

They may think a bit harder before prescribing them to patients who are simply

stressed, they said. And they will watch how the warnings play in the legal

field, some said.

 

" We're going to continue to use these drugs pretty freely until we start

seeing the ads in the newspapers from lawyers saying, `Have you or your family

member been prescribed these drugs? If so, you may have a case,' " said Dr.

Phillip Kennedy, a family practice physician in Augusta, Ga. " When the big L

word,

liability, raises its ugly head, that's when things will really change. "

 

Spokesmen for drug companies said that they would emphasize to physicians

that the F.D.A.'s warning did not conclude that antidepressants cause suicide.

" My hope is that people won't make a link with the drugs, " said Jennifer Yoder,

a spokeswoman for Eli Lilly & Company, maker of Prozac. " I think the message

will be that suicide is an inherent part of the disease of depression, and

physicians should carefully monitor their patients. "

 

Critics of the medicines said the F.D.A.'s warning was long overdue.

 

" These warnings are not as strong as I would like, but they're an important

first step, " said Tom Woodward of North Wales, Pa. Mr. Woodward's teenage

daughter, Julie, hanged herself six days after starting therapy with

Zoloft.David

Tuller and Terry Aguayo contributed reporting for this article

 

Non text portions of this message have been removed]

 

 

drugawareness/

 

 

 

 

Finance Tax Center - File online. File on time.