Danilo Terrida (20)
It's been said that writing with emotion can either a, turn you into a great writer or b, land you in hot water.
This is the story of Danilo Marcello Terrida, a 20 year-old student from Denmark.
What you are about to read defies all belief, it's malpractice of the highest order. Its secrets and lies designed to make one pharmaceutical company rich at the expense of taking a kid in his prime, a young man that had his whole life in front of him and everything to live for.
Danilo was 5 hours away from home - he'd enrolled at the Maritime college in Frederikshavn, Denmark and on one evening in mid-October 2011 he was missing his family and friends back home in Sjælland.
Feeling low and lonely Danilo decided to visit the Emergency Medical Service in Frederikshavn for help. Once there he was given an antipsychotic and told by staff that he should go back to Maritime College and contact a General Practitioner (GP)
Danilo contacted a GP in Frederikshavn but was told that it would be best to contact his own GP in Hellerup, some 400 km away.
What happened next really does not surprise me. It still shocks and saddens me that doctors can be so ignorant when it comes to diagnosing someone who was just feeling lonely and distant from his family.
Danilo made the call to his GP, Dr. Ole Knudsen. and, after just 8 minutes, was prescribed sertraline (Zoloft) - Remember, this was not a face-to-face consultation, this diagnosis and subsequent prescription was all done over the phone. Zoloft is manufactured and marketed by pharmaceutical giants, Pfizer.
The prescription, I presume, was faxed to Danilo who then dispensed it.
This from his parents...
"In the following 11 days, Danilo followed the doctor’s recommendations about how many pills he should take, and after seven days, he doubled his dose, as he had been told, despite the fact that research has shown how dangerous high doses of Sertraline can be to young people. Meanwhile he got worse and worse. He complained of extreme headache, could not concentrate or sleep and had nausea.
"On October 25, 11 days after Danilo had begun his recommended treatment with “happy pills”, he hanged himself from a crane on the Maritime College. Family and friends were shocked. Danilo had no history of mental illness, he had never before been on antidepressants and that he could kill himself, came as a shock to all who knew Danilo."
So, another kid killing himself. He was depressed and that's what depressed people do, right?
His prescribing doctor, Ole Knudsen, somehow waved a magic wand, looked into his crystal ball and, after just 8 minutes, deemed that 20 year-old Danilo was in need of a box of pills to make his loneliness disappear. What kind of knucklehead thinks he has the right to prescribe a lonely 20 year-old powerful mind-altering drugs over the phone?
Hey, Knudsen, I'm talking to you!
As if losing their son wasn't bad enough, Danilo's parents then learned, six months after Danilo’s death, that Dr Ole Knudsen had been modifying and adding to Danilo’s health records.
They also learned that the Danish National Board of Health, the limp-wristed equivalent to the FDA and MHRA, had known since 2003 that sertraline increased the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior among children and adolescents up to 25 years of age.
After being stonewalled, down almost every avenue they have walked, Marianne and Denis Terrida, Danilo's parents, have now decided to go public and a new website has been launched that highlights the story of their son and their son's drug pusher, Ole Knudsen. (Because that's what you are, Knudsen!)
The website is in both Danish and English and shows how a doctor at the emergency medical service chose to hand over 25 grams Buronil – an antipsychotic agent also known Melperone. It is indicated for use in Treatment refractory schizophrenia and, in the UK at least, has not been granted a licence.
So, just to clear things up. Danilo was feeling lonely, he missed his family so some lunatic in a white coat decided that he needed a drug that was suitable for those with Treatment refractory schizophrenia.
It's normally prescribed to patients who cannot tolerate clozapine. So, why did Moron number one prescribe it to Danilo?
Moving on to Moron number two, Dr Ole Knudsen.
This from the Danilo website...
"In eight minutes you can boil an egg. Or run the subway from Nørreport to Flintholm. If you are a busy practitioner, you can also manage to diagnose a patient telephonically and prescribe a dangerous medicine in that time. It did not take longer for Danilo’s own general practitioner, Ole Knudsen to make the decision to prescribe antidepressants to Danilo. A medication that 11 days later would cost him his life. Eight minutes on the telephone was all Ole Knudsen needed to diagnose Danilo with depression and prescribe the antidepressant “Sertraline." Usually, it is normal professional standards for doctors to see the patient for a personal consultation at least twice before a depression diagnosis is made and treatment begins. The fact that Ole Knudsen had only spoken on the phone with Danilo one single time, is very much against the proper treatment when prescribing antidepressants."
You can see the discrepancies Danilo's parents found in Dr Ole Knudsen's notes on this page here.
Toward the end of 2013, some two years after Danilo's suicide was induced by Zoloft, Dr Ole Knudsen was criticized by the Health Authorities Disciplinary Board. They found that Knudsen's record-keeping was inept, that he hadn't given informed consent to Danilo, and never followed up (made contact with Danilo to see how he was coping on the drug)
Knudsen was further criticized by several other authorities for his role in the case, but despite this, according to his parents, he can now continue as a practitioner – without being subject to any legal or economic punishment.
The findings were never made public, they were just sent to Danilo's parents.
The story continues on the website here.
Now, please run the hot water and let me immerse myself.
Dr Ole Knudsen, you are one incompetent asshole. You hide behind the nonsense notion that a 20 year-old who is lonely must be mentally ill because you gave him a whole 8 minutes, during which time you miraculously diagnosed him and treated him with a pill to help with the diagnosis. Well, Knudsen, your diagnosis was wrong as was your treatment and no altering of medical notes can change those two simple facts.
He was just 20, Knudsen. 20 years-old and you gave him a box of pills that are known to induce suicide. Moreover, you didn't even bother to see how he was doing. Your ignorance and lack of care is staggering. Hey, don't worry about it though. Danilo was 'just one of them things that happen', right?
It couldn't have been the drug, the kid had mental health problems, right? He had a shift in the chemicals in his brain and you was only trying to correct that shift, right Knudsen?
If there were a shit list, Knudsen, you'd be sitting at number one.
My thoughts are with the Terrida family.
Bob Fiddaman.
More Info - http://daniloforlivet.dk/english/
No comments: