Posted by Devastated Mother on February 17, 2006, at 2:36:01
In reply to Re: Suicide on Effexor, posted by Emily Elizabeth on February 16, 2006, at 21:05:08
In my own case, my son was not with a regular MD. He WAS seeing a psychiatrist, so the knowledge of what the medication could do was clearly there. So, no excuses. My son had been seeing another doctor and had to change doctors because his student status changed and he could no longer see the campus doctors, who had been doing a reasonably good job, we thought. Every doctor he had seen who asked him received releases from him so that we could be involved in his care. This one did not ask, I think, even though the medication being prescribed should have not even been prescribed without family knowing the dangers.
We did not know anything about the medication he was taking, and in fact we out of the country when he took his life. We would have done a number of things differently had we known. Of course, I know some of the skeptics are thinking that hindsight is 20 20, but I can assure you that I would never have ignored this black box warning had I been given any choice. Since I was not informed, I effectively had no choice.
> Thanks to DM and SL for posting so openly about such a painful experience. It truly might save a life. And it gets us all to think a little about our society and medications.
>
> First, I must say that I typically am not a huge advocate of lawsuits when things can be resolved by other means. However, in this case, I must admit that I am hoping you will pursue this route. While I do think that the MD was acting according to the standards of medical practice by maintaining confidentiality about treatment, it does sound like he needs to be held accountable for sloppy, irresponsible work.
>
> For example, lets say that your child was suicidal before getting the effexor (I know you don't think that was the case, but for the sake of a general example, think about it.) Did the MD ask enough questions to assess whether the patient was suicidal or not? Did he refer the patient to a specialist (i.e. psychiatrist) for a complete assessment and treatment plan? Did he refer the patient to a psychotherapist to find other ways to address issues?
>
> I'm willing to bet that the answer is "no" to all of the above. So many GP's skip these important steps and don't know how to address mental health probs. But they keep handing out psych meds. That is not okay. They need to know that if they are practicing in a specialty in which they are not trained, a tragedy could result. And, as the prescribing physician, they are accountable. The medical community needs to wake up about these issues.
>
> Wishing you strength and healing.
>
> Best,
> EE
poster:Devastated Mother
thread:601406
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20060212/msgs/610524.html