Parents Sue Harvard Over Son’s Suicide
Over the years, I’ve read many, many discouraging stories of people killing themselves soon after beginning anti-depressants or adjusting a dosage and they just still my heart. But the tale of Harvard student who killed himself at the Harvard Medical School in 2007 is one of the most discouraging I’ve ever encountered.
In June 2007, John Edwards went to the University’s health services center complaining of not being able to study as many hours as other students. He was prescribed an ADHD stimulant by a nurse practitioner, although he’d never been diagnosed with ADHD. Later the nurse prescribed Prozac and Wellbutrin–both infamous for increased suicidal thoughts–when he complained of anxiety and depression. Edwards was also taking Accutane, an acne medication suspected of increasing suicidal thoughts in some people.
“‘The Wellbutrin is having the effect that we were seeking . . . but unfortunately I feel like it has canceled out the anxiety-reducing effects of the fluoxetine [Prozac], as recently I’ve been pretty nervous,’ Edwards wrote in a Nov. 27, 2007, e-mail to the nurse practitioner, Marianne Cannon. ‘Let me know if I should schedule to come in and meet with you soon, or if I should change the med plan.’”
The nurse asked him to schedule an appointment. Two days later, Edwards killed himself, pharma-ed to death and the clear victim of incompetent medical care. Who gives anti-depressants to someone taking Accutane? Who gives a stimulant to someone without ADHD? People who think these drugs are absolutely safe. Even when they are clearly not.
Edwards’ family has sued Harvard, the nurse and the nurse’s supervisor.
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