The Irish Medical Council [IGMC], like its English counterpart, has a duty, it claims, to license medical practitioners to practise, and has the power to place restrictions on or revoke such licences, in cases of questions about a doctor's fitness to practise.
One such question was put to them by the parents of Shane Clancy, the 24 year old who, whilst under the influence of citalopram, killed a young man before stabbing himself repeatedly to death - Shane had taken an abnormal amount of citalopram [known as Cipramil in the UK and Celexa in the US]
His parents, Leonie Fennell and Tony Donnelly, approached the IGMC and asked why their son was prescribed a month's supply of citalopram considering it is a well known fact that when starting these types of medications [SSRi's] there is a marked increase of suicidal and violent thoughts.
One would assume that the IGMC would have been able to answer such a simple question without the need to call upon "specialists" - alas, the road they took is baffling to say the least.
If the likes of you or I wish to make a compliant to the IGMC we have to wait until they meet and decide if the complaint should go further. In the case of Shane Clancy, the IGMC have decided from their infinite fountain of knowledge that there is no room for such a complaint...furthermore, they have decided not to warrant any investigation because. and I quote, "there is insufficient cause to warrant further action."
Well, I've news for them. There are two young men that have died, Cipramil has been implicated in their deaths and whether or not the IGMC agree with that should not be an issue here.
Shane Clancy's parents don't want this to happen again to another Irish teenager, the IGMC, it appears, couldn't give a toss if it does or not because, it appears, they can brush the suicide/hostility/SSRi connection under the carpet with such sweeping statements as "there is insufficient cause to warrant further action."
There's more to this than meets the eye, something Shane's mother has pointed out on her blog.
The star "expert" for the IGMC was one Philip J. Cowen, MD, FRCPsych from The University Department of Psychiatry, Warneford Hospital, Oxford.
Cowen's links to Cipramil manufacturers, Lundbeck, are plain to see. In the past he has advised Lundbeck, served as a paid member of advisory boards for Lundbeck, been a speaker at the Royal College of Psychiatrists Annual meeting which was jointly sponsored by Lundbeck and as recent as April 2011, Cowen was a speaker at the Athens Lundbeck Symposium.
Like most people whose complaints are rebutted, Fennell asked for the evidence provided to the IGMC by Cowen to be submitted to her. They refused.
There's much more over at her blog where she shows how simple research, using Google as a tool, can throw up some startling results.
Fennell has, in the past, been threatened by Irish lawyers [twice] because she spoke out about an Irish psychiatrist called Patricia Casey who took umbrage to what Fennell had to say about her - I fully anticipate Fennell won't let this drop either, who can blame her? The IGMC have a lot of questions to answer, most importantly about their ethics and why they allow people like Cowen to give evidence then seal that evidence when the parents of dead teen ask for it.
It would appear that the only duty being carried out by the IGMC here is the duty to conceal what should be publically available. If Cowen thinks Cipramil, or any other SSRi for that matter, should be prescribed in large quantities to vulnerable teens then let's hear it, from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
Leonie Fennell and Tony Donnolly are a couple of tough Irish warriors, a few months ago they confronted Lundbeck, they secretly recorded that confrontation. The IGMC owe them, at the very least, a chance to rebut any of Cowen's claims regarding the safety and efficacy of Cipramil...if only to highlight how the IGMC are letting down future patients with the right to an informed choice when deciding to go down the route of SSRi therapy.
Full story HERE
Fid
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