Seroxat - Carlin's cocaine & booze use grim, says Judge at inquest

Jury ponders antidepressant's role in teen suicide

http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/06/22/14477976.html

The grimmest evidence a coroner learned during a two-week inquest into an Oakville teen’s suicide was her heavy cocaine and booze consumption, he told a jury in his summary Tuesday.


At the end of his review of testimony into Sara Carlin’s death, Dr. Bert Lauwers said the key issue is whether the prescribed antidepressant drug Paxil led to the 18-year-old athlete and student hanging herself on May 6, 2007 in the basement of her family’s home.

Lauwers spent 77 minutes reviewing 22 recommendations submitted by coroner’s counsel Michael Blain and other lawyers, including Gary Will, who represents Carlin’s parents.

The submissions could become part of the jury’s decisions into what caused the teen’s death and recommendations about what precautions doctors and government agencies can take to prevent suicides.

Lauwers placed special emphasis on testimony pointing to an alarming increase in suicides by Ontario teenagers.

A doctor specializing in the subject testified that 19% of high school students in the province had considered killing themselves during the past year, 15% actually began planning methods to end their lives and 9% tried suicide.

Recommendations being considered include warning students about the potentially lethal combination of using booze and illegal drugs while taking antidepressants. Experts testified about the higher risk of suicide among younger people taking such medication.

The jury also has been asked to consider urging governments to require manufacturers to make public negative findings resulting from tests on a larger number of drugs.

Jurors didn’t hear enough about “what was going on in Sarah’s life,” which may have contributed to her suicide, Will told the coroner.

Will told jurors Monday there is “powerful evidence” that the antidepressant drug played a stronger role in her decision to kill herself than the consumption of alcohol and cocaine.

Court heard that Carlin, an aspiring dermatologist, had dropped out of her second year of health sciences at the University of Western Ontario after complaining to her family doctor about anxiety and depression. She was prescribed Paxil 14 months before her death.

Lauwers told the jury her doctor was aware of the drug’s risks.

Her family insisted Carlin had exhibited no signs of depression.

Will argued Paxil had been proven ineffective and dangerous for patients under 19, adding the teen and her parents were not told of its risks or questionable status.

While complimenting the family for offering several recommendations, Lauwers cautioned the jury that experts on both sides presented conflicting opinions during the inquest about the heightened risk of youths taking antidepressants compared with the contribution to suicides of existing depression conditions.

Lawyers representing Paxil’s manufacturer, Glaxosmith Kline Inc., were at the inquest.

The coroner told the jury that trying to determine a direct link between Paxil and Carlin’s suicide posed a “serious challenge” for them. He said he learned of her cocaine and alcohol use only during testimony.

The five-member jury, whose decisions do not have to be unanimous, will remain behind closed doors during
deliberations.

ian.robertson@sunmedia.ca