Psychiatrist Says Zoloft Made S.C. Boy Kill

[Guest guest]

atracyphd2

Tue, 8 Feb 2005 07:43:46 EST

 

 

 

[drugawareness] Psychiatrist Says Zoloft Made S.C. Boy Kill

 

 

Just in case you missed this article about Dr. Healy's testimony in

Christopher Pittman's case last Friday . . .

 

 

 

 

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10820101.htm

 

 

Posted on Fri, Feb. 04, 2005

 

Psychiatrist Says Meds Made S.C. Boy Kill

 

BRUCE SMITH

 

Associated Press

 

 

CHARLESTON, S.C. - A psychiatrist testified at a boy's murder trial Friday

that the antidepressant Zoloft caused the 12-year-old to kill his

grandparents

with a shotgun and burn their house down.

 

" I think there is a very strong case to say the drug has caused a

problem, "

said Dr. David Healy, an expert from Britain. " I'm saying at the time this

murder happened, he did not have the capacity to know right from wrong. "

 

Healy testified for the defense at the trial of Christopher Pittman,

now 15.

He is charged with killing Joe Pittman, 66, and Joy Pittman, 62, while

they

slept in 2001.

 

The defense has argued that the boy is not guilty because Zoloft made him

unable to tell right from wrong. Prosecutors have countered that

Pittman was

angry at his grandparents for disciplining him for choking another

student on a

school bus.

 

On Thursday, a prosecution expert testified that it was anger, not Zoloft,

that prompted Pittman to pull the trigger.

 

About a month before the slayings, Pittman was hospitalized after

threatening

to kill himself. He was prescribed the antidepressant Paxil and was

later put

on Zoloft.

 

Last October, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Zoloft and other

antidepressants to carry " black box " warnings - the government's

strongest warning

short of a ban - that say they can raise the risk of suicidal behavior in

children.