Paxil killer Carmichael - mother & brother mentally ill - Paxilprogress

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Killer dad breaks silence




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http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Loc...25750-sun.html



Killer dad breaks silence



Wed, August 9, 2006



Carmichael says it's vital not to hide mental illness



By JENNIFER O'BRIEN, FREE PRESS REPORTER



Killing Ian became an obsession - a 'mission'









A sketch shows David Carmichael in court in London in October 2005, as Justice Helen Rady delivers her verdict.

A Toronto man who killed his son in a London hotel room has broken a two-year silence in hopes he can help families afflicted by mental illness avoid similar tragedies.



In a conversation from the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital, David Carmichael said he is haunted every day by memories of the night he killed his 11-year-old son, Ian.



"I wouldn't want any family to go through what our family has. It has been catastrophic and devastating," he said.



"People never recover from losing a child, but losing a child this way . . .



"I'm sorry," Carmichael finished, sobbing into the phone. "I miss my son very much."





Carmichael, 48, contacted The Free Press last week, saying he hopes to help remove the social stigma around mental health issues.



Carmichael also wants to warn people of the dangers of hiding mental illness.



Well-known in Toronto's sports communities, Carmichael was a physical activity and sport consultant who developed programs aimed at getting kids active and into playing sports, regardless of ability or skill. He was former director of national projects at ParticipAction.



He suffered depression and began taking an old antidepressant prescription -- without contacting his doctor -- two weeks before killing Ian on a father-son road trip at the Holiday Inn on Exeter Road in London.



Now, two years later, Carmichael believes that anti-depressant -- Paxil -- is directly linked to the delusions that led him to believe he could protect his family by killing Ian.

"Within a day or two, I was beginning to plan suicides and began thinking my son was going through so much pain himself," he said. "Then I started planning a murder-suicide, and then just murder.



"It became my mission to kill Ian."



Yesterday, a spokesperson for GlaxoSmithKline in Canada, which produces Paxil, said Paxil did not trigger Carmichael's actions.



"David Carmichael's case is certainly a terrible tragedy, however we do not believe Paxil played any part in this situation," said spokesperson Peter Schram.



An Internet search brings up other Paxil patients who claim to have had psychotic episodes related to the drug, but an expert said yesterday the link is doubtful.



"I would have a hard time accepting that the medication caused the psychosis," said Dr. Leonardo Cortese, an associate professor at Western who specializes in antipsychotic medicines.



Cortese said he often prescribes Paxil for depressed patients and that it is one of the most effective antidepressants on the market.



"Psychosis can be associated with depression by itself, and my opinion is that it is often the illness causing it. There is very little evidence to support that the antidepressants would cause it," said Cortese, also clinical director of Specialized Mental Health Programs at Windsor Regional Hospital.



Psychosis is an illness that often includes hallucinations, delusions and irrational thoughts and fears.



There is controversy around some antidepressants, including Paxil, being linked to suicide and to hostile behaviour. In 2001, a U.S. jury awarded $8 million to the family of Donald Schell, a man who killed several family members and himself after taking two Paxil tablets. GlaxoSmithKline has maintained Schell's depression caused him to become homicidal.



Carmichael's wife, Elizabeth Primrose, said Carmichael was "hard to deal with" when he went on Paxil.



"He had always been a steady man. He didn't complain about dinner. He ironed his own clothes. He was easy," she said, even when he was feeling depressed. But when taking his prescription, he became less easygoing.



Carmichael said another aggravating factor is the stigma around mental illness that prevents people from telling friends and family when they're sick.



"If people around me knew . . . they would have known something was wrong. I was obsessed with Ian," he said.



Carmichael, reportedly a loving and involved father, said he began planning to kill on the premise that Ian -- who suffered from epilepsy -- was in a living hell and had permanent brain damage.



Carmichael started to have delusions about Ian's behaviour, imagining Ian would kill his sister and give his mom a nervous breakdown.



"To me, at the time, killing Ian was an act of love and protection," Carmichael said.



He had taken Paxil previously for depression. He had stopped, but resumed on his own in July 2004. When his usual 40 milligram dose of Paxil didn't seem to help, Carmichael upped it to 60 mg.



There is a history of mental illness in Carmichael's family -- both his mother and brother suffer depression, he said.



At his trial in London, Carmichael's brother testified he, too, had once thought of killing a son while depressed.





Media reports over the past year have linked some antidepressants to suicide. And well-known British psychopharmacologist David Healy suggests some antidepressants can cause violent reactions in some users.



While in psychiatric hospital in Brockville, Carmichael has built a website discussing his actions. He said if he had known about potential side-effects of certain antidepressants he would have talked to a doctor first.



WHAT HAPPENED



- July 30, 2004: Carmichael drives his son, Ian, to London to visit an area BMX bike track.



- July 31, 2004: Carmichael kills Ian in hotel room 609 at the Holiday Inn on Exeter Road. He is charged with first-degree murder



- Sept. 26, 2005: Carmichael pleads not guilty to first-degree murder at his London trial, heard by Superior Court Justice Helen Rady. His lawyer is Philip Campbell of Toronto.



- Sept. 30, 2005: Carmichael is found not criminally responsible for the death of his son.



- October 2005: Carmichael is sent to Brockville Psychiatric Hospital, a minimum-security mental health facility