Re: Blocking lawsuits; yet Paxil causes suicide

August 1, 2004

Dear President George Bush:

I am writing to urge you to stop blocking lawsuits by consumers looking to seek damages from pharmaceutical companies that have blatantly injured them. This is just another example of how your administration consistently makes decisions that benefit large corporations, and not the American people whom you are supposed to be serving.

I read in the paper today that the antidepressant Paxil, a drug which was approved by the FDA, was know to have suicidal side effects in teenagers. I feel very close to this issue because my father, an otherwise gentle and committed citizen, committed suicide within one week of being prescribed Paxil to help him with panic attacks. As a mother myself, I feel for every mother who has lost her child to suicide, particularly when there are clear indications, in study after study, that Paxil does in fact lead people (old and young) to exhibit uncharacteristic violent and self-destructive behaviors. Citizens have a right to seek justice when they have been mislead.

In the paper today (New York Post, August 1, p. 11) there is a story about how GlaxoSmithKline was fully aware that Paxil caused destructive side effects, and that the FDA endorsed them anyway. So let me get this straight: the corporations you are protecting with this new proposed legislation basically put profit over the welfare and benefit of the people. Doesn’t this strike you as being extremely immoral and contradictory to the family values that you supposedly uphold?

Sincerely, Citizen Kay