Road Rage Suicidal Impulse Prozac 12/08/1990 Illinois Man Intentionally Crashes his Car into Truck: Prozac Lawsuit Road Rage Suicidal Impulse Prozac 1990-08-12 Illinois Man Intentionally Crashes his Car into Truck: Prozac Lawsuit http://web.archive.org/web/20130202043459/http://ssristories.com/show.php?item=1415 Summary:

First paragraph reads:  " A salesman says he developed suicidal impulses while taking the anti-depression drug Prozac, and he once intentionally smashed his car against a truck."

Paragraph 9 reads:  "Langer's suit says that at one point while he was on the drug, he intentionally drove his car at high speed at the rear of a truck. He suffered broken bones and bruises in the crash."

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Anti-Depressant Causes Suicidal Urges, Suit Says
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
August 12, 1990
Author: Associated Press
Estimated printed pages: 2
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CHICAGO (AP) - A salesman says he developed suicidal impulses while taking the anti-depression drug Prozac, and he once intentionally smashed his car against a truck.

In only one year, Prozac has been prescribed by doctors for millions of Americans and has been touted for its few side-effects.

But in a suit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, one patient, Ralph Langer, is seeking more than $1 million in damages from the drug manufacturer, Eli Lilly & Co. of Indianapolis, and its subsidiary, Dista Products Co. Other suits also have been filed involving the drug.

Langer, who lives in a suburb of Chicago, contends in the suit that Eli Lilly failed to warn doctors about what the suit said is a link between Prozac and suicidal or aggressive behavior.

A spokeswoman for Eli Lilly refused to comment on the suit but defended the drug as safe.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has no evidence of the drug being linked to specific deaths and still considers the drug safe, spokeswoman Eva Kemper said in a telephone interview from Maryland.

Langer contends that he began experiencing suicidal and self-destructive impulses after his therapist prescribed Prozac in September 1987 to treat depression.

tht A woman in New York sued Lilly last month. The company also is being sued by three widows whose husbands were slain in a rampage by a man in Kentucky who killed eight people before shooting himself. Each woman is seeking $50 million, saying the aggression was linked to Prozac.

Langer's suit says that at one point while he was on the drug, he intentionally drove his car at high speed at the rear of a truck. He suffered broken bones and bruises in the crash.

His attorney, Aron D. Robinson of Chicago, said his client had never had suicidal impulses before.

This was the pattern in other Prozac cases studied by his law firm, he said.

The aggressive or suicidal behavior ''began when the person first began taking the drug and ended when the person was taken off the drug,'' he said.

Lilly spokeswoman Mari Abbott said the drug was tested on more than 11,000 people before it was marketed. Prozac has been prescribed for more than 2 million patients without evidence that it was linked to suicidal impulses, Abbott said.

''All of the data we have does not show a cause-and-effect relationship between our product and suicidal thoughts and acts,'' Abbott said. ''The safety and effectiveness of this product has been tested.''
Edition:  3*
Page:  6D
Index Terms: (002) drug use side effect danger safety suicide urge tendency intentional accident automobile vehicle doctor lawsuit filing warning fda impulse 
Record Number:  5900052949

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