Anti-Depressants may have driven killer's rage

People are starting to wonder if the assaination of Councilman James Davis by Othniel Askew can be blamed on side effects of the drug paxil. this according to an editorial in the New York Post that has been picked up by Yahoo news, and cites several other cases.

Donald Schell, 60, of Wyoming was also the picture of calm in 1998 - until he was prescribed Paxil. On Feb. 14 of that year, he used a .22-caliber gun and .357 magnum to shoot and kill his sleeping wife, their daughter and his 9-month-old granddaughter, before committing suicide. The family filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Wyoming which blamed the drug and ordered the maker, GlaxoSmithKline, to pay the family $8 million. Van Syckel sued the drug maker two weeks ago.

See also this earlier NY Post story on one mother's call to ban paxil


[with a tip of the hat to Alex Chernavsky]