His parents had no warning of their son's plan to kill himself. Mark had never spoken about suicide or threatened to commit suicide.
Mark and Cheryle have since learned that Matt's doctor has served as "a well-paid spokesman for Pfizer," the maker of Zoloft.
Terri Williams' 14-year-old son, Jacob, was an exceptional athlete and participated in both the varsity and junior varsity football teams at his school.
In September 2000, Jacob seemed to lose interest in school activities except for football, and a conflict arose with regard to his grades and school attendance. As a result, his parents attended a conference in October 2000, at which the school administrator suggested that Jacob might be depressed and recommended seeking medical help.
Terri contacted Jacob's pediatrician and made an appointment for the same afternoon. The doctor prescribed Prozac, and three weeks later increased the dose.
Shortly after he started taking the drug, Jacob complained of having strange bad dreams and shortly after the dose was increased, his mother noticed an aggressive behavior which had not been there before. "Jacob also became destructive and destroyed some of his favorite things," Terri said.
When questioned, Jacob told his mother, "I don't know what is making me do this." Terri wrote it off to normal adolescent behavior and did not pursue the issue further.
On December 5, 2000, Terri found Jacob's body hanging from the rafter in their attic. He had hung himself with his own belt. He left a letter on the ladder leading up to the attic for his parents, thanking them for giving him 14 years of a happy life.
After her son's death, his friends told Terri that they had noticed the same changes in Jacob, that he had become short tempered and verbally aggressive.
"Had I known that this was a potential side effect, suicide," Terri said, "I would have never allowed my son to take the drug Prozac."
And the sad fact is, the FDA could have warned Terri, because by 1998, according to the FDA's adverse reaction reporting system, Prozac alone had already accumulated over 40,000 adverse reaction reports, including over 2,100 deaths, far more than any other drug in the history of the reporting system.
More information for injured parties can be found at Lawyers and Settlements
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/ssri_hell.html
By Evelyn Pringle
evelyn.pringle@sbcglobal.net
Mark and Cheryle have since learned that Matt's doctor has served as "a well-paid spokesman for Pfizer," the maker of Zoloft.
Terri Williams' 14-year-old son, Jacob, was an exceptional athlete and participated in both the varsity and junior varsity football teams at his school.
In September 2000, Jacob seemed to lose interest in school activities except for football, and a conflict arose with regard to his grades and school attendance. As a result, his parents attended a conference in October 2000, at which the school administrator suggested that Jacob might be depressed and recommended seeking medical help.
Shortly after he started taking the drug, Jacob complained of having strange bad dreams and shortly after the dose was increased, his mother noticed an aggressive behavior which had not been there before. "Jacob also became destructive and destroyed some of his favorite things," Terri said.
When questioned, Jacob told his mother, "I don't know what is making me do this." Terri wrote it off to normal adolescent behavior and did not pursue the issue further.
On December 5, 2000, Terri found Jacob's body hanging from the rafter in their attic. He had hung himself with his own belt. He left a letter on the ladder leading up to the attic for his parents, thanking them for giving him 14 years of a happy life.
After her son's death, his friends told Terri that they had noticed the same changes in Jacob, that he had become short tempered and verbally aggressive.
"Had I known that this was a potential side effect, suicide," Terri said, "I would have never allowed my son to take the drug Prozac."
And the sad fact is, the FDA could have warned Terri, because by 1998, according to the FDA's adverse reaction reporting system, Prozac alone had already accumulated over 40,000 adverse reaction reports, including over 2,100 deaths, far more than any other drug in the history of the reporting system.
More information for injured parties can be found at Lawyers and Settlements
http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/ssri_hell.html
By Evelyn Pringle
evelyn.pringle@sbcglobal.net
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
