Robin Williams - Autopsy Reveals Antidepressants

Actor and comedian Robin Williams died by suicide according to a coroners findings.

An autopsy report revealed no alcohol or illegal drugs.

What the autopsy did reveal however is that Williams had concentrations of antidepressants in his system. The media are reporting that "therapeutic concentrations" of prescription medications were found, including two antidepressants.

I had to do a double take. Coroners often use this terminology.

Let's look at the word 'therapeutic'

DEFINITION

Therapeutic - producing good effects on your body or mind (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

Antidepressant - a drug that is used to relieve or prevent depression in a person (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

And now Williams is dead.

Anyone else see the hypocrisy here?

If antidepressants are prescribed to relieve or prevent depression and they are, as we are told, effective, then why would someone taking them wish to end their own life?

If antidepressants are supposed to produce good effects on your body or mind then, same question, why would someone taking them wish to end their own life?

Now, the flipside.

For years many people from all walks of life have suggested that antidepressants induce suicide, even the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and market these drugs have conceded to this fact.

Why then did the coroner return a verdict of suicide for Robin Williams?

Could Williams have killed himself for other reasons than depression?

Why didn't the coroner delve deeper into the antidepressant suicide link?

Why did he not return a verdict that Williams death was induced, or could have been induced by the antidepressants he was taking?

Suicide, maybe so but maybe there was a third party involved here?

The mainstream media are, in the main, running with the headlines that Williams killed himself and no drugs were found in his system. As yet I have not seen one headline in any of the mainstream outlets that have used the headline 'Antidepressants found in Robin Williams system'.

Once again, it's left to bloggers who, no doubt will be labelled 'conspiracy theorists' by prescribing psychiatrists and pharmaceutical companies alike.

RIP Robin. You entertained millions, your voice was heard globally. Sadly, your voice has been suppressed in your death by a coroner who had a duty to give you a voice.

Bob Fiddaman.

Sara Carlin - 6 Years On

18 year old Sara Carlin

Today [May 6] marks the 6 year anniversary of the death of Oakville teen, Sara Carlin.

Sara tragically took her life back in 2007 and her much publicized 2010 inquest saw her parents, Neil and Rhonda, face teams of lawyers representing doctors and GlaxoSmithKline.

Sara had, around a year or so prior to her death, been prescribed Glaxo's Paxil [paroxetine], a drug that is infamous for inducing suicide, particularly in children and adolescents.

Sara was just 18.

The inquest, that I labelled the Glaxo & Friends Vs The Carlin Family, rolled out apparent SSRi experts who made various claims that 'suicide is much more strongly related to cases of untreated depression' and in any event Paxil induced suicide is more common when first starting the drug.



Oh really?

Sara had missed her dose for three to four days leading up to her suicide. This was disregarded by the experts because "the information provided did not suggest that Ms Carlin suffered from the usual triad of symptoms seen with withdrawal" - Oh really?

Completed suicide is a symptom of withdrawal. There is no greater suffering than death Mr Expert Man!

Anyway, Sara's story went global and many, myself included, believe that her suicide was brought on by Paxil. Yes there were other factors, all of which were used by lawyers representing both Glaxo and doctors during the inquest. I've mentioned before how Glaxo like to blame everything but their product, Sara's inquest is a classic example of this.

We see this played out all the time in coroners courts. I don't envy anyone who has to sit through so called experts blaming the victim but softening the blow with terminology such as 'troubled youngster' or 'mentally ill'.

Coroners courts put the victim on trial and offer opportunity for people that didn't even know the victim to say how bad they was, be it through drinking, illegal drug-taking or being an uppity teen. We've seen victims of suicide bad mouthed before and after Sara's inquest, Toran Henry and Shane Clancy are two that spring to mind.

A whole heap of recommendations were made at the end of Sara's inquest. I have wrote about the word 'recommendation' before. It means nothing.

None of the recommendations made back in 2010 have been implemented.

Today my thoughts are with Neil and Rhonda


Here's a video I did for Sara back in 2010, a video that has been viewed over 13,000 times.

Nessun dorma Sara

Related Sara Carlin articles

Sara Carlin Inquest – Latest

Sara Carlin Inquest – Failure of Oakville Medical Profession

Sara Carlin – ‘Death by Paxil’ Inquest – The ‘Expert’

Sara Carlin Inquest – Coroner’s Witness In U-Turn… And That Man Shaffer!

Coroner’s Inquest – Glaxo & Friends Vs The Carlin Family

Sara Carlin Inquest – Local MP Slams GlaxoSmithKline

SARA CARLIN INQUEST - What The Jury Should Know

Sara Carlin Inquest - "Paxil likely played important role in teen's suicide"

Sara Carlin Inquest - The Eli Lilly 'Links' & Today's Recommendations.

**Exclusive - Sara Carlin Inquest: The Bias Of Coroner's Counsel, Michael Blain & Coroner, Bert Lauwers?

The Inquest of Sara Carlin and the Moderation of Yahoo Groups




Bob Fiddaman

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Are Coroners Ignorant of Facts?

I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and BITES YOU ON THE ASS! 

Are coroners ignorant of facts?

It's a fair enough question and one that I'd answer with a resounding 'yes'.

I can't imagine for one minute that choosing to be a coroner is a pleasant experience. I'm reminded of when I was a kid and asked what I wanted to be when I grew up - footballer, truck driver. Perversely  some might suggest, I even had being a postman marked down as a goal. I cannot recall one single kid either in my class at school or social friends ever wanting to be a coroner - to be honest I don't think anyone knew back then what a coroner was. Who wants to work with dead people anyway?


It takes a special breed of person to become a coroner. Day in, day out, they sit and listen to evidence of how Joe Bloggs was cut from the wreckage of his car or how Jane Doe was brutally gang raped then murdered. All this after eating breakfast, a spot of lunch then home for dinner/tea with their partners and families.

Yes, it takes a very special kind of person to be able to switch off emotions, images, grief.

It has to be said, coroners are exceptional in switching off, they have this in-built mechanism that comes into play - it enables them all to step out the bubble of overwhelming loss - they [think] they know they may be able to shed some light on how and why a person died but they can only do so by 'switching off'.

It's plainly obvious to a growing number of people that coroners not only switch off emotion they also switch off the logic button. One would have thought that coroners, of all people, could apply simple logic to sometimes complex inquests. They choose not to. Having switched off the emotional attachment they also switch off the human attachment. They become God.

Many readers will know that I've recently promoted the website, AntiDepAware. Brian, the author and researcher, has collated over 1600 inquests where the use of antidepressant type medications were involved. One of Brian's latest posts really struck a chord with me - it pretty much sums up what I am trying to say in this post.

Brian has carefully followed the inquests of particular coroners, in his post, Coroner’s Progress 2, he highlights clearly that certain coroners are either playing the God card or, as I suspect, are just pig-headed and ignorant about a problem that is so glaring even a kindergarten pupil could spot it.

"Norfolk Coroner William Armstrong", writes Brian, "is retiring at the end of September 2013."

Brian goes on to write how Armstrong became influential in changing the procedure for licensing shotguns. Apparently Armstrong had been involved in many inquests where firearms were concerned so he decided to do something about it. Kudos to Armstrong for that.

However, where Armstrong saw a link between suicide and firearms he has, on many occasions failed to see the link between suicide and medication. He's not alone, almost every single coroner fail to recognise this common link.

Here's part of Armstrong's career highlights as a coroner, courtesy of AntiDepAware.


Joanne Brown, 41 [1]

… Since about 2005 she had been suffering from serious mood swings resulting from a mental health condition for which she was receiving treatment, although her medication was not always being managed effectively …

….. The coroner said Mrs Brown had suffered for several years from a mental disorder causing mood swings and one happened on December 13. She clearly intended to bring her life to an end and he recorded a verdict of “suicide while suffering from a mental disorder”.



Mark Osler, 51 [2]

Mr Osler shot and seriously injured his ex-lover, then shot himself dead.

… Greater Norfolk Coroner William Armstrong read a statement by Mr Osler’s GP saying he was being prescribed anti-depressants.

He had mentioned having fleeting suicidal thoughts in June. On July 9, he said he was still feeling low and anxious and sleeping badly but never expressed any intention to hurt anyone or take his own life … What happened was completely unexpected and a great shock …

No further comment by Mr Armstrong on antidepressants was reported. 


Pamela Thomas, 59 [3]

A CORONER is asking Norfolk police to consider reviewing the scope of firearms licence applications after a woman died from shooting herself, an inquest heard …

… He said there was “no deficiency” in the procedure when Mr Thomas received his latest firearms licence.

But he added: “I have noted that when someone applies for a gun certificate the police will ask questions of their character. There is no obligation to ask about the physical or mental health of everyone in the household.”

Mr Armstrong said at the time the licence was granted Mrs Thomas had not made an attempt to take her own life, but she had been suffering from depression for a long time.

“For a woman to kill herself with a gun is a very rare event,” he said.

The coroner told the hearing this was one of three shotgun suicides in a short period of time and he proposed to ask the chief constable in Norfolk to look at how firearm licences are issued.

However, no comment from Mr Armstrong was reported on the following:

… A medical report from her GP, Adrian Clifton, said she had made good progress on her increased anti-depressants, following her attempted overdose in March which she “regretted” …



These are just three examples of Armstrong's ten reported inquests that AntiDepAware offer for scrutiny. On no occasion has Armstrong ever felt the need to investigate the antidepressant/suicide link - Why?

The three inquests [above] highlight the use of firearms in three separate deaths. They also highlight how all three deaths had another link - antidepressant use.

Armstrong chose to ignore the antidepressant link in a further 7 inquests he conducted, 6 of which involved no firearms.

I find it astonishing that a coroner could turn a blind eyes to overwhelming evidence that, at the very least, warranted further investigation.

Was Armstrong switched off during these inquests, so much so that he missed the link or did he just choose to ignore the link because, hey, depressed people have "mental disorders", right?

We see many Armstrong type figures do the same on a daily basis throughout global coroners courts. They sit in judgement of the dead when in actual fact they should be sitting in judgement for the dead.

Five years ago the 3 month long inquest of 17 year old Toran Henry came to it's conclusion. The coroner stated at the end that children should continue to take their medication as and when prescribed. Toran had killed himself a couple of weeks after being prescribed fluox, the generic version of Prozac. Earlier in the inquest the presiding coroner had stated that in his 8 years of being a coroner, "I struggle to recall a suicide in which Fluoxetine was regarded as being a cause or development."

The pharmaceutical company that manufacture fluox, Mylan Labs, had received an adverse reaction report for Toran. After 5 long years they concluded that the fluox Toran ingested was the most probable cause of his induced suicide. [4]

The inquest of Sara Carlin, an 18 year old from Oakville, Toronto saw Coroner's Counsel, Michael Blain, appear in front of TV camera's on the first day of the inquest. He told reporters and the watching public, "The Courts acknowledge that this medication can increase thoughts of suicide in particular patients but 'they' don't think that the medication played a role in Sara Carlin's death." [5]

This was day one of Sara's inquest. It appears that 'the Courts' had already made their mind up without first hearing the evidence.

Sara hanged herself after being prescribed GlaxoSmithKline's Paxil, known as Seroxat in the UK.

This brings me, conveniently, to a study published in International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine [6]

Although the study focuses on violence and not suicide the conclusion pretty much highlights where coroners are either enjoying the role of playing God or ignoring the evidence. The authors conclude:

The deep trench that separates the law from forensic pharmacology is unfortunate and causes injustice, largely invisible to the legal profession. Legal processes generally seem reluctant to implicate the drugs, for whatever reason, preferring instead to look elsewhere. This unexplained bias needs to be examined. Even if people are in general prepared to accept the evidence, many cannot bring it to bear in specific cases.

Two steps could be taken now. First, legal administrations in all countries should ensure that courts under their control obtain appropriate expert evidence from a forensic psychiatrist or pharmacologist in all cases where a prescribed drug could have caused violent or other criminal behaviour.

Second, criminal courts and coroner’s courts should be supplied with an annotated list of drugs that can cause violent behaviour. That need not take long because solid building blocks for such a list have recently been compiled from national pharmacovigilance databases in the United States and in France. The list should be updated regularly.

I cannot for the life of me apply any logic to the stance of coroners regarding antidepressants and suicide. I'm constantly reminded of the line from the movie Jaws.

Mayor Vaughn: I don't think either of one you are familiar with our problems. 

Hooper: I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and BITES YOU ON THE ASS! 

It takes a special breed of person to become a coroner...

Bob Fiddaman





[1] Tragedy of mum's shotgun suicide - Published on 28/03/2010 - Lynn News
[2] Gunman took his own life, inquest rules - Published on 28/06/2011 - Lynn News
[3] Coroner’s appeal after Heacham gun death - Published on 19/07/2011 - Lynn News
[4] Mylan Pharmaceuticals Admits their Drug is the Probable Cause of My Son’s Suicide - Published on December 16, 2012 - Mad In America
[5] Sara Carlin Inquest: Day One [VIDEO]
[6] Case histories as evidence - International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine - Andrew Herxheimer, David Healy and David B. Menkes 24 (2012) 23–29

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New Website Challenging Coroners About Suicide

I love it when an idea comes along that has been so blatantly obvious to me... that it's passed me by.

There are many bloggers who have their own styles, their own personal stories to tell, their own take on the pharmaceutical industry, psychiatry, antidepressants.

An area that has interested me has been the whole coronial process. I first became interested in this during my coverage of the Sara Carlin inquest and later the inquests of Shane Clancy and Toran Henry. Three young human beings whose lives were cut short by suicide, all were seemingly normal kids, all were taking antidepressant medication at the time of their deaths, namely, Paxil [Seroxat], Citalopram [Celexa], and Fluox [Prozac].


AntiDepAware is a new website that challenges the coronial system, it's a fascinating read and the author, Brian, has collated many media stories where suicides have occurred but coroners have just ignored the medication link.

Yes, it's another website created to make people aware of antidepressant dangers but where it differs from many is it highlights the failure of coroners to take this issue seriously. It's coming from another angle that I like most about Brian's website, that and the fact that he has meticulously crafted a very strong database of 1600 inquests in England and Wales between 2003 - 2012.

Brian has painstakingly gathered all the information, which he freely admits is just the tip of the iceberg, through various media resources. He writes:

"...all the information here has been found on the Internet, mostly in the archives of local newspapers. I have had no privileged access to any other material. I have limited myself to reports from the past 10 years concerning deaths in England and Wales.

"...this list is far from complete. In fact, it could be subtitled “the tip of the iceberg”. For every inquest report that I was able to include, there was at least another where toxicology was completely excluded from the report, or where medication was hidden behind phrases such as “she was being treated for depression” or “he saw his GP”."

I was reading one of Brian's posts earlier about Coroner Ian Smith. Smith became famous in 2004 when he spoke out about antidepressants during the inquest of a local writer who had hanged himself “out of the blue”.

Smith had heard evidence during the inquest that the local writer was in the course of switching medication from Effexor (Venlafaxine) to Seroxat. To make the transition, he had gradually stopped taking Effexor and had been taking Seroxat for 11 days when he died.

In his summation, Smith pressed for more research into the antidepressant/suicide link as he had previously held two inquests where the person/s had been switching medication.

In 2008 Smith hit the news again.

In March 2008, at the inquest of a retired bank manager, Mr Smith spoke of a link between antidepressants and suicide:

One of Cumbria’s coroners is to contact drug authorities because he fears people are killing themselves after taking antidepressants.

Ian Smith is to write to the Committee on the Safety of Medicines – an independent advisory body …

… Mr Smith told the inquest he knew of several other suspected suicides involving the same group of antidepressants, known as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

He said: “I have to say this is probably the fifth, if not sixth inquest I’ve heard within a period of three years when somebody either just going on to Citalopram or Seroxat, or coming off it, have killed themselves one way or another, totally out of the blue, totally without expectation, without a history of suicidal thoughts in the past.” 

The following month, Mr Smith conducted the inquest into the death by hanging of a farmer.

He … criticised the use of antidepressants and expressed concerns over a pattern of people taking their own lives days after being prescribed the drugs …

Coroner Smith was right, although contacting the Committee on the Safety of Medicines [CSM] would have been frivolous. My experience of the CSM is that they are about as effective as trying to slam a revolving door.

In 2004 the, then, chief executive of Mind, Richard Brook resigned from the Committee after he was told by the British drugs regulator, the MHRA, not to reveal the Committee's findings that Seroxat had, for years, been prescribed by doctors in an unsafe dose and that the regulators had the evidence in their possession for more than 10 years. The MHRA threatened Brook with prosecution if he went public, he basically handed them the middle finger and went public anyhow. [1]

What the MHRA were asking of Brook was to keep secret from the public that GlaxoSmithKline's Seroxat was being prescribed in unsafe dosages. The MHRA, who remember carry the tagline, "Safeguarding human health", had knew this for ten whole years but decided, in their infinite wisdom, that this information would be best kept under lock and key, in other words they didn't see that releasing this information would safeguard human health. Perverse kind of thinking, wouldn't you say?

Not so perverse when you learn three things.

1. The MHRA are entirely funded by the pharmaceutical industry

2. The Chairman of the MHRA at the time had previously been employed by GlaxoSmithKline.

3. The Head of Licensing at the MHRA was former world safety officer at GlaxoSmithKline, one of his interests whilst working for Glaxo was the antidepressant, Seroxat.


Anyway, talking or writing about the MHRA always leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

AntiDepAware is a must read. It will open your eyes to the closed eyes of Coroners.

The home page is HERE, recent posts are on the right hand side.

Bob Fiddaman



[1] The riddle of the drug regulators [Link]

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Mimicking Depression: The Wrong Diagnosis

A lot has been said on the use of antidepressants and whether they are safe and effective in those that use them.

The majority of healthcare professionals who prescribe these medications on a daily basis seem to think that antidepressants have a place in today's society. The majority prescribe them because they have been told, and are still told, that they are safe and effective.

Of course, your average GP doesn't just think that the evidence that these drugs work is based around the clinical trials, spokespersons of pharmaceutical companies and thought leaders. They, apparently, see the results first hand. Depressed Joe feels a whole lot better because of the Prozac that Dr Jones prescribed him 2 months ago. The change in Joe is enough for his Dr to believe that the Prozac is working. The placebo effect rarely enters the mind of Joe or Dr Jones.

I find the history of marketing antidepressant medication fascinating in as much that it is rarely questioned by the masses, even if it was questioned by your average layperson it's, more often than not, met with a shrug of the shoulders and an 'Ah well' attitude.

It couldn't happen to me, right? I'd never allow myself to become depressed, to take an antidepressant people must be weak, why don't they just get a grip of themselves?

Attitudes like this may have there place but the genius of pharma marketing is that they are very convincing but always driven by profit.

Ashley Smith inquest becoming a bad joke

Christie Batchford, a journalist from the Globe & Mail, throws out the question, Why So secretive?, in regard to the current inquest into the death of Canadian teen, Ashley Smith.

I'm stumped by recent events, in fact the presiding coroner seems to be under fire from lawyers at this inquest.

The article shows three videos:

• Ashley Smith incident in Grand Valley prison
• Ashley Smith in prison days before her death
• Prison video: Guards remove Smith's ligature

There's links to back stories which are well worth a read too.

Story HERE

Fid


Read the new book, The Evidence, However, Is Clear...The Seroxat Scandal

US/CANADA COPIES HERE
UK/IRELAND FROM CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING

Canadian Coroners Suppressing Voices?

Those familiar with the case of Ashley Smith will find the following article baffling. Law, in general, isn't as straight cut as we expect it.

In this instance we have an inquest of a young girl who died in the early hours of Oct. 19, 2007, in her cell at the Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener.

Smith was found with a ligature around her neck, one of many attempts she had made during her incarceration in various mental institutions.

Ashley Smith was just 15 years of age when a 30 day sentence was handed down to her. Her crime? She threw a crab apple at a postman.

The 30 day sentence spread to 4 years as Smith was transferred on 17 separate occasions by Corrections Canada. The transfers spanned four of the five regions of the Correctional Service of Canada.

Her inquest, which should give her a voice, has been marred by controversy.

The Correctional Service of Canada are seeking to deny the public and press access to exhibits which amounts to a complete publication ban.

What do they want to hide? Well, maybe the video that surfaced on youtube, a video that shows staff outside the cell of Ashley Smith during her final hours? Not so, the video has been shown to the 5 person jury.

The video, first broadcast on The Fitfh Estate, shows how seven guards stood outside Smith's cell and, as the narrator puts it, "Ashley had choked herself to death while seven guards stood outside her cell and did nothing to save her."

Here we have a girl, who at the age of 15, was thrown into the system, drugged up to the eyeballs and handed down further sentences for not being the "model prisoner." Her 30 days turned in to a living nightmare.

Presiding coroner at the inquest, Bonnie Porter, has approached the five member jury in this case and told them, “anyone approaching counsel” for copies of exhibits “may be cited for contempt.”

This is not how things are run in a world of democracy, surely?

The inquest should take all the facts and if the Coroners Court wish to adhere to their own statement, "We speak for the dead to protect the living", then they should allow the jury access to all the facts.

It would appear that the presiding coroner wants to speak for the dead to protect the Correctional Service of Canada.

Smith was not the model inmate, she kicked up a stink, so much so that she had over 500 violations against her, each time her sentence was increased. With drugs, restraints and tazer guns used against her, it's hardly surprising that this teenager fought back the only way she knew how., wouldn't you?

Smith's miserable time at the hands of this system should be brought to the front. A young girl thrown into various cells and various states of drug induced hysteria is one thing. To have her voice suppressed in a coroners court is an atrocious act!

Full story in the Globe.

Here's the video. Here's Ashley Smith's voice.




Related:

Monday, November 15, 2010 THE ASHLEY SMITH REPORT

Thursday, March 31, 2011 "We Speak For The Dead...To Protect The Living" - Unless Drugs Are Involved.


Fid

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'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman
US/CANADIAN HERE OR UK/IRELAND FROM CHIPMUNKA PUBLISHING

Sara Carlin - 4 Years Today

May 6 2007 the world lost a beautiful young woman from Canada.

Sara Carlin is very much in my thoughts today as are her family and friends.



Fid

Sara Carlin articles HERE

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'THE EVIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS CLEAR...THE SEROXAT SCANDAL' By Bob Fiddaman
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