Do Killings Raise Drug-Safety Questions?
June 7, 2001 (Washington) — In the wake of a Cheyenne, Wyo., jury’s $8-million dollar award Wednesday, there are new questions being asked about drugs to treat depression. The winners in the historic case are relatives of a man who went on a shooting spree after taking the drug Paxil. The verdict, the first of its kind in the U.S., followed a lawsuit filed after a violent series of events on Feb. 13, 1998. According to the complaint, 60-year-old Donald Schell took two Paxil tablets, then two days later shot and killed his wife, daughter, granddaughter, and ultimately himself. The suit charged the drug’s manufacturer, now GlaxoSmithKline, with “negligent misrepresentations” for failing to warn patients about the popular antidepressant’s potential dangers. Paul Waldner, a partner in the law firm that represented the plaintiffs, says a key issue here is product liability. “Whether it be Firestone’s tires, Ford Explorers, the addictive qualities of nicotine, or the dangerous portions of d
