By SAM PAZZANO, Toronto Sun
Young started a relentless campaign to prevent tragedies linked to prescription drugs when his teenaged daughter died after taking a since-banned drug Prepulsid for bloating in 2000.
He used a coroner’s inquest Friday to champion a host of changes aimed at protecting Canadians by making them aware of the dangerous side effects of prescription drugs.
The 57-year-old MP testified at the inquest examining the May 6, 2007 suicide of athlete-scholar Sara Carlin after the 18-year-old took an anti-depressant drug called Paxil.
Her parents are blaming the drug for her death.
Sara hanged herself in the basement of her parents’ Oakville home after taking Paxil for 14 months.
Young emphasized that patients must be educated about the dangerous side effects of drugs and the possibility of using alternate non-drug treatments.
“Doctors indicate to patients there’s a pill for everything and there are alternate treatments (that are not presented),” said Young, who founded the advocacy group Drug Safety Canada and last year wrote a scathing book Death By Prescription, which indicts the lucrative North American drug industry of placing profit before patient safety.
Young’s happy 15-year-old daughter Vanessa died in front of him on March 19, 2000. He blamed the medication Prepulsid prescribed by the family’s doctor. He sued its manufacturer and settled in February 2006.
Prepulsid, which was prescribed to aid digestion, was tied to irregular heartbeat and was linked to heart attacks and sudden death, mostly in people also using some other medications or suffering from some underlying conditions.
Janssen Pharmaceutica voluntarily stopped marketing Prepulsid in the U.S. in July 2000. Health Canada pulled it from Canadian shelves one month later, saying its decision was “founded on the association of the drug with serious cardiac arrhythmias ... and sudden cardiac deaths.”
Doctors must explain the drug’s risks, benefits and adverse side effects so patients can make informed choices, Young said. Despite existing warnings of teen use of Paxil, Young said the drug’s sales escalated from 2005 through 2008.
Health Canada issued warnings in 2003 and 2004 that prescribing antidepressants to teens could lead to behavioural or emotional changes that might put them at increased risk of suicidal behaviour.
A year before her death, Sara had complained of anxiety and depression to her family doctor and had been prescribed Paxil, one of the antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
Her downward spiral included using cocaine and binge drinking, quitting her University of Western Ontario second-year course and her job.
Her worried parents, Rhonda and Neil, learned she was now on four prescribed medications: Paxil, a second antidepressant, Ativan and a sleeping pill before her death.
“We’re hoping through this inquest Sara will save some lives down the road and that’s what gives us a tremendous sense of meaning,” her father, Neil, said.
Lawyer Teresa Walsh, representing Paxil’s makers, queried Young on Sara Carlin’s alcohol consumption two years before taking Paxil.
Young balked at the questions, refusing to answer them and noting by Grade 10 alcohol use is widespread.
“It’s irrelevant. You’re planting the earworm (idea) that it’s the alcohol, everything but the Paxil,” replied Young, who was warned by the coroner to simply answer Walsh’s questions.
The inquest will conclude Monday with closing arguments.
sam.pazzano@sunmedia.ca
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/06/18/14442356.html
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