Thursday, December 31, 2009

Irresponsible Lawsuit, Using Garbage Science

I would like to know who is the plaintiff expert in this case, so that he can be held accountable for promulgating garbage science.

"Family Sues Harvard Over Son's Suicide

The family of a Harvard undergraduate who committed suicide two years ago filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Harvard College and two professionals at University Health Services on Wednesday.

John B. Edwards III '10 was a sophomore preparing for a medical career and training for the Boston Marathon when he committed suicide in November 2007.

The lawsuit, filed by his father, John B. Edwards II, alleges that his son sought care at UHS in June 2007 because he could not study for as long a period of time as his friends. According to the complaint, a nurse practitioner prescribed Adderall to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in addition to two antidepressants, Prozac and Wellbrutin. Edwards was also taking Accutane, a powerful anti-acne drug. Three of these four drugs have been associated with heightened suicide risk.

Lisa G. Arrowood, the attorney representing Edwards, said that drug combination is inappropriate and is associated with an increased risk of suicide."

Student Suicidal? Expel from College

Thank the irresponsible and garbage science lawsuits for this catastrophic decision.

Expel Students Who Might Kill Themselves?

By Sally Satel

Imagine you are a sophomore in college. The semester has been academically overwhelming, and your girlfriend recently dumped you. One night it reaches crisis level and you go to campus mental health worried you might harm yourself. You volunteer to enter the hospital and are released a few days later feeling more hopeful.

Then your college tells you to leave school. Period. No formal evaluation of your mental health condition. No discussion with you. Just out.

According to a newly released report from the State of New Jersey called College Students in Crisis: Preventing Campus Suicides and Protecting Civil Rights, policies which allow or require removal based solely on the existence of suicidal thoughts or behavior may be increasing. They are premised on the need to remove the student from the stresses of student life and to motivate them to get the care they need.

In the wake of tragedies such as the self-immolation of a sophomore at M.I.T. in 2000 and the shooting spree at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 2007, concerns among administrators took on urgency. But lawyers argue that such blanket involuntary removal policies infringe upon a student's civil rights.

Within the last few years, several high-profile law suits against George Washington University, Hunter College, and the City University of New York have been waged by students forced into withdrawal. All were found to have violated provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of mental illness.


Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Nancy Grace Interview Called a Factor in Suicide

Attorney reviews the elements of intentional infliction of emotional distress. The suicide note does not mention the Nancy Grace Show.

Emotional problems of the suicider reviewed with her attorney.

"A Harvard professor says a CNN Headline News host's relentless questioning of a Florida mother three years ago contributed to her suicide.

That's according to a filing in a wrongful death case brought by the family of Melinda Duckett. Duckett's 2-year-old son was reported missing in 2006, and CNN host Nancy Grace launched aggressive nightly coverage of the case.

The family claims that Grace's questioning and CNN's coverage decisions inflicted severe emotional distress on the young mother. Grace interviewed Duckett after speculation had begun about the mother's alleged involvement in the toddler's disappearance.

The next day, Duckett shot herself in the head."




Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Scapegoating Father Sues Harvard for Son's Suicide

Acne is associated with an elevated risk of suicide. In looking at the collection of people committing suicide while on Accutane, it is smaller than expected from a pool of 5 million people prescribed the drug. Accutane may have a protective effect in preventing suicide by people with acne. Obviously, it is ordinary common sense. If a drug causes agitation and markedly worsened moods, stop taking it, and ask the doctor for another.

The FDA warning about suicide thoughts in young people taking anti-depressants was a false, irresponsible warning. It killed hundreds of young people by suicide by its intimidation of family doctors and pediatricians prescribing anti-depressants to this population. A plaintiff verdict in this case would have a similar effect as the warning. It would deter non-psychiatrists, and drive colleges out of the mental health clinic business. Both would be catastrophic to the mental and public health of the nation.

The suit should be dismissed on first pleading. It should be considered frivolous, and to have an improper motives, scapegoating and vengeance.


"The father of a Harvard College sophomore who killed himself in 2007 sued the school’s president and fellows for wrongful death, alleging the institution’s health service prescribed drugs known to increase suicide risk.

John B. Edwards II of Wellesley, Massachusetts, sued on behalf of the estate of his son, known as Johnny, in state court in Middlesex County on Dec. 2. A doctor and nurse employed by Harvard simultaneously prescribed skin, antidepressant and attention-deficit disorder drugs linked to suicide and other side effects, according to the complaint.

“Three of these drugs have risks associated with heightened suicidality,” the father’s lawyer alleged in the complaint. “All four drugs have significant side effects.”

Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts is the undergraduate school of Harvard University, whose $26-billion endowment is the world’s largest academic fund.

“The care he received at Harvard University Health Services was thorough and appropriate and he was monitored closely by its physicians and allied health specialists,” Harvard said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. “Similar complaints previously have been filed with the Board of Registration in Medicine, the Board of Registration in Nursing and the Board of Registration in Pharmacy, and in all three instances the complaints were dismissed upon review.”

Friday, November 6, 2009

Avoiding Suicide Lawsuits

No utterance below has any scientific validation. If he ever testifies to such for a plaintiff, I would appreciate learning about it, so that I may legally act upon him. I request that future publications quoting Resnick allow a rebuttal section to balance his garbage utterances. From Phillip J. Resnick, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of forensic psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland,

"Careful documentation of suicide risk factors—including prior attempts and feelings of hopelessness—is the most important means of avoiding a malpractice suit, according to Dr Resnick. It’s not enough to state simply that a patient denies having suicidal ideas. Also take into account input from family and objective signs of patient behavior before discharging a patient from the hospital...

Inpatient Suicide
Liability risk rises when a psychiatric inpatient commits suicide. According to Dr Resnick, there are 2 major considerations in the eyes of the law when determining whether a psychiatrist has failed to protect a patient: foreseeability and precautions taken after the suicide risk is identified, such as frequent monitoring. Suicide is difficult to predict, and the law recognizes this. “However, once the psychiatrist is aware that a patient is at risk for suicide, he or she is expected to take certain reasonable precautions,” Resnick said.


Before discharging an inpatient, be sure to document objective signs of improvement, such as better appetite, better sleeping, group therapy attendance, and brighter affect. This information should be included in the clinical notes. “When I review a malpractice case involving a patient who killed himself or herself shortly after discharge, I look to see whether the doctor recorded any objective evidence of improvement,” said Resnick...

Resnick also strongly recommends involving the patient’s family. “This is crucial,” he notes, “because a patient who is saying his final goodbye before killing himself has a 60% chance of saying goodbye to his spouse but only an 18% chance of notifying his therapist.3” If a patient or a family member reports that the patient has a suicide plan, increased scrutiny is critical: 3 of 4 of these patients go on to attempt suicide.4 Hospitalization or increased treatment should be considered."

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Nurse Got Kicks Telling Suicidal People How to Do It Properly

Minn. man under investigation in 2 deaths but charges uncertain

Suicide Addict
Robb Long / AP
Minnesota investigators say William Melchert-Dinkel visited Internet suicide chat rooms and offered "expert knowledge" on how to commit suicide. He is under investigation in two cases. No charges have been filed, and legal experts say prosecution would be difficult because Melchert-Dinkel didn't physically help kill the people.

updated 3:45 p.m. PT, Fri., Oct . 16, 2009

MINNEAPOLIS - A nurse who authorities say got his kicks by visiting Internet suicide chat rooms and encouraging depressed people to kill themselves is under investigation in at least two deaths and could face criminal charges.

Investigators said William Melchert-Dinkel, 47, feigned compassion for those he chatted with, while offering step-by-step instructions on how to take their lives.

"Most important is the placement of the noose on the neck ... Knot behind the left ear and rope across the carotid is very important for instant unconsciousness and death," he allegedly wrote in one Web chat.

*****

The families are outraged and want prosecution of this Free Speech Clause protected activity. They are really seeking scapegoats for their own contributions, genetic and environmental, to the suicide of their loved one.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Guideline on Prosecution of Assistants in Assisted Suicide

"Campaigners for assisted suicide have emphasised that the new guidance will not change the law but make the current position clearer.

"We are hoping that this will be a positive step and will give Debbie clarity about the kind of factors and situations which will encourage the DPP to prosecute and which will not," said a spokesperson from Dignity in Dying, which supported Purdy's case.

"We are hoping that for people in the situation of Debbie and [her husband] Omar it will be a helpful piece of prosecuting guidance. We are hopeful that it will be a positive step forward."

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Scapegoating Father Prevails with Biased Jury

Father wanted the apology to absolve his son of the responsibility for the suicide. Nothing will change the determination to die his son showed from childhood. If I were the gun owner, I would have countersued for the pain from having someone steal my gun and blast himself in my home. The suicider had no permission to take the gun. This verdict rewards a crime, theft.

"Following his son Brian’s suicide, Joseph Montes just wanted the boy’s stepfather to publish an apology as a warning to other people who keep guns in the house where they rear children.

While his request was clearly personal, the Baltimore scientist also viewed it as a public service that would “hit home.”

“That’s it,” Montes said last week, his face shaking. “That’s it.”

But Frank Eisler wouldn’t do it. He didn’t think the 16-year-old’s
death — from a 9mm shot to the head in the early morning of April 11, 2005 — was his fault.

So Montes sued. And after a year and a half of litigation, including a contentious three-day jury trial that ended Friday in Baltimore City Circuit Court, he won: $50,000 and a public assignment of blame to the man he believes could have done more to save his troubled son. "

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Environmentalists Sue to Block Suicide Barriers on Bridge

Elsewhere, these have been shown to reduce suicide without increases by other methods. Most people who are stopped, or rescued are glad to be alive, after becoming less depressed. A documentary on bridge jumping was made, The Bridge.

Saturday, July 18, 2009

False Attacks on Clinical Care Are Not Just in Psychiatry

Biased ideologues promotes a hate agenda, enabled by biased politicians, and the biased left wing media. There is good moral and intellectual justification for any diabetic now requiring insulin after the intimidation of the doctor into stopping Avendia to engage in self-help against the above biased ideologues.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

Lawyer Confidentiality Waived if Client Suicidal

"The commentary to the Alberta rules include the following comment:

"A lawyer should, if possible, discuss with the client whether the lawyer may disclose an apparent intent to commit suicide and, if so, to whom....The circumstances supporting an implicit authorization to disclose an intended suicide will be exceptional. ..

The lawyer's personal experience, beliefs or moral views on suicide are clearly subordinate to the lawyer's ethical obligations to maintain the confidential information of their client."

I think the client suicide presents a difficult case. Life may be a paramount value, but so is client autonomy and determination of the ends of representation. Absent incompetence, I find it hard to justify disclosure. On the other hand, I have an inuitive sense that to stand by and watch the end of a human life would be more or less unbearable."


Add this to the discovery list. Did the suicider tell a lawyer about his plan? Make the lawyer a co-defendant.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Careless Assisted Suicide - A Potential Exception to the Principle of this Blog

If assisted suicide is unlawful, the tort may be per se (automatic), and intentional, subject to exemplary damages.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

About 4% of Patients on Anti-Depressants Will Get Agitated

It should happen the first day or two. The patient should stop the medication.

Risperidone Reduces Suicidality When Added to Anti-depressants

One should think of suicidality either as a delusion or as a state of agitation. Both are targets for tranquilizers.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Berkeley Gets a Taste of Its Own Left Wing Medicine from a Freak

The town should have fought this to the death. Instead they caved in. The compliance program will cost it far more than the settlement. That life was worth less than zero. Not only was it unproductive, it generated massive costs in injuries to others, and disruption of ordinary life. The death resulted in a financial benefit.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Murderer Potential Suicider

Not a great distance to travel. One wonders if the suspect has serious childhood behavior problems associated with conduct disorder. When such children grow up and get any form of power, the damage they do can be greatly magnified.

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Cheap Psychiatric Care is Deadly Psychiatric Care

This level of shoddiness is coming to the USA, if it is not already here.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Honor Suicides

The families of some suiciders can be a problem.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Son of Sylvia Plath Commits Suicide

One has to note that the mistress of his father killed herself by the same method as Sylvia Plath.

In such a heavily laden family, treatment should be early and aggressive. There is likely a separate suicide tendency. Within a group of people with severe depression, suicide runs true only in some families.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Cult vs Cult - Scientology Accused of Causing Suicide by Having Suicider Stop Anti-depressant

The connection between the Church and Scientology and the inducement to stop treatment has to be established. Long term treatment is the sole way to prevent suicide.

Yet, the suicider must take responsibility for the suicide. There are many depressed people stopping medication for many reasons. Yet, the chance they commit suicide in any period of time is very small. It is in the same category of chance of picking the winning lottery number of the Powerball. That rarity makes the suicide unforeseeable.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Another Scapegoating Family Makes Money Off Suicide of Alcoholic Son

They had no credible scientific evidence what the VA hospital did caused the suicide. They were the more proximate cause of the suicide in failing to prevent it in their own basement. If they hired a plaintiff expert, I would appreciate getting the name.

Settlement of these cases encourages more to be filed.

Review of Suicide Malpractice Case in New York

Hesitation to sign a safety contract is not a reason to restrict a patient, as a standard of care.

Friday, January 2, 2009

Skip Simpson Files a Licensing Complaint and Fails

One wonders if Dr. Brockway has any legal recourse. He should hire an attorney to review the possibility of a lawsuit against the scapegoating complainant and the scapegoating lawyer, Skip Simpson. This family and lawyer were not satisfied with a settlement. They will not let go. One has to question why they persist. Their loved on killed himself. No one made him. He chose to do so, and was actually relentless in his desire. Is it possible, this family was a factor?

Here is a series of YouTube postings.

The licensing board found no ethical lapse for these vengeful complainants.

AZ Licensing Board Hearing I.

AZ Licensing Board Hearing II.

AZ Licensing Board Hearing III.

AZ Licensing Board Hearing IV.

It is not malpractice to fail to follow a nursing policy. It is malpractice to follow the cookbook approach proposed. Nor is it a lapse of ethics. The nursing policy has no basis in science, logic, nor policy.

If any defendant is being pursued by Skip Simpson, I would appreciate hearing from their attorney.