Donald Schell: the jury awarded a total of $8 million in damages to the two families

Vickery & Waldner, LPP

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

On June 6, 2001, a unanimous federal court jury in Cheyenne, Wyoming found that Paxil “can cause some individuals to commit suicide and/or homicide,” and that it did cause Donald Schell to shoot his wife, daughter, and granddaughter, before turning the gun on himself. The jury awarded a total of $8 million in damages to the two families, although the award will be limited to the 80% of “fault” found against drug-maker GlaxoSmithKline.

“We are gratified that, after hearing all of the evidence, the jury reached a just verdict,” said Andy Vickery, Houston attorney and lead trial counsel for the plaintiffs. Co-counsel Jim Fitzgerald of Cheyenne added, “We hope that SmithKline will heed the verdict and issue appropriate warnings so that no other family will have to endure this type of preventable tragedy.”

SmithKline, like its SSRI manufacturer cohorts Eli Lilly (maker of Prozac) and Pfizer (maker of Zoloft), argued that the plaintiffs had no “scientifically reliable” evidence to prove that Paxil triggers violence or suicide, even in a “small vulnerable subpopulation” of patients. However, United States Magistrate Judge William C. Beaman rejected that argument in a well-reasoned 31 page opinion, holding that both Dr. David Healy and Dr. John T. Maltsberger were on sound scientific footing.

Judge Beaman’s opinion, and the extensive scientific report from Dr. Healy are both available on www.justiceseekers.com. At the trial, Harvard pyschiatrist and long-time suicidologist Maltsberger testified that the SSRI manufacturers should warn prescribing physicians – particularly primary care doctors like the one who dispensed Paxil samples to Donald Schell – that these drugs cause a vulnerable minority of patients to experience “akathisia” (turmoil) and “mania” (frenzy), conditions which are frequently precursors of violence and suicide.

SmithKline Vice President David Wheadon testified that the most definitive type of testing for the phenomenon on SSRI-induced violence would be a “prospective” test, and conceded that SmithKline has never conducted such a study. The verdict was also based on evidence from unpublished data from SmithKline’s clinical trials which showed that way back in 1989 its own investigators had attributed a variety of side effects, including akathisia, mania, psychosis, aggression, and attempted suicides to Paxil.

During the pendency of the two week trial, Dr. Healy’s views about SSRI induced violence were also accepted by a court in Australia. In an opinion issued on May 24, 2001, a magistrate judge in New South Wales held that Zoloft caused a man named John David Hawkins to strangle his wife.

Although SmithKline’s lawyers initially talked about an appeal, Vickery expressed hope that the company would honor the verdict and seize the opportunity to become an industry leader, by issuing appropriate warnings and conducting proper tests.

• • • OISM Newsletter • • •
Subscrine to OISM Newsletter and you’ll always be kept up to date via eMail on the news in the field of mental health and the struggle against psychiatry... CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE!