The following information has been taken from the brilliant Murder Meds database. The database contains over 3,000 documents recently attained from the American drug regulator, the FDA. The documents are adverse events, in particular, where homicide has been committed whilst patients have been on (or withdrawn from) one or more psychiatric drug.
Today I'm focusing on those FDA files where children are concerned, namely 8-17 year-olds. Remember, these are adverse events initially reported to the FDA because a doctor, family or member of the public suspected the homicide may have been caused by the drug/s. There could very well be many more of these types of incidents that have never been sent to the FDA ~ If the FDA had gone public with the documents below then I'm almost certain that they would have been inundated with similar adverse events, which would have been really bad for business, right?
This is drug induced homicide. This is prescripticide.
AERS Case Number 5749577
10 year-old boy. PROZAC
Notice how the FDA allow every adverse event to go unredacted, apart from the death. A description of events has also been redacted by the FDA.
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12 year-old boy. Prescribed sertraline and paroxetine, better known by their brand names ZOLOFT and PAXIL. The adverse events listed include abnormal behaviour, mania, aggression, restlessness, psychotic disorder, hallucinations and homicide. A description of the homicide has been redcated by the FDA.
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8 year-old girl. Was taking a cocktail of RISPERDAL, ZOLOFT and PAXIL - these were, according to the document, prescribed to her for "anxiety". Listed in the adverse events, amongst other side effects, are anxiety and homicide. So, here we have an 8 year-old little girl, prescribed mind altering drugs for anxiety and the drugs she was prescribed make her anxious. It appears that the 8 year-old child attempted homicide by picking a knife up. The important part of this actual event has been redacted by the FDA.
The 8 year-old was admitted to a psychiatric unit where they weaned her off her final drug, Zoloft. An update shows that the child, as of Feb 2004, was happy at home and school. Miraculously after stopping all medications her anxiety and homicidal thinking stopped.
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10 year-old girl. Prescribed VYVANSE for ADHD. Vyvanse (Lisdexamfetamine) is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant. The report regarding the homicide event have been redacted by the FDA.
During an FDA Pediatric Postmarket Adverse Event Review it was found that... “The majority of the psychiatric adverse events (n=27) were homicidal or suicidal ideation, self-injurious behavior or ideation, or suicide attempt." Begs the question why this young girl was ever prescribed Vyvanse.
Today the Vyvanse website claims...
Vyvanse® (lisdexamfetamine dimesylate) is a prescription medicine used for the treatment of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in patients 6 years and above.
To date there has been no scientific evidence to prove that he condition, ADHD, is a mental disease of the brain.
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16 year-old boy. PAXIL and RISPERDAL. The boy carried out a murder. During his trial his mother stated that her son became "more defiant and aggressive after taking Paxil." - Furthermore, his psychiatrist testified that he treated the patient after the murder and had to lower his dosage because it made him "violent and delusional."
Patient was found guilty of murder and sent to prison.
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15 year-old boy. Prescribed PAXIL. Weaned of Paxil whilst spending time at a juvenile detention centre for committing an unknown crime. Some time after halting Paxil the 15 year-old boy committed homicide. He pleaded guilty to murder. At the time, the media reports indicated that the 15 year-old's tendency to commit homicide may have been influenced by a "video game."
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17 year-old boy. What's remarkable about this adverse event report is the diagnosis of "loneliness" - Loneliness, it seems, is now deemed as a mental disorder. The claim, it appears, was made by Wyeth, the pharmaceutical company that market and manufacture the antidepressant in question.
The 17 year-old boy was prescribed EFFEXOR XR. When on Effexor his depression worsened, he felt everyone hated him, in particular his best friend. His dosage of Effexor was increased from 75mg per day to 300mg per day. On an unspecified date he killed his best friend.
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16 year-old boy. Prescribed PAXIL. His parents and friends said that he had no history of violence or aggression He was given a three week supply of Paxil by his family physician. Ten days later he stabbed (REDACTED) to death.
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There are many more cases in the database.
If the FDA have been sitting on files like the ones you have seen above then maybe, just maybe, a lot of children would never have had to endure the horrific side effects caused by these drugs. The increase in prescription rates is quite alarming - yet the FDA, armed with this information and many more cases like it, have just sat back and done nothing. It took a Freedom of Information request to get this information out into the public domain. For that we should all applaud Andrew Thibault.
Bob Fiddaman.
Previously in the Homicide Files series.
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