http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/AC/prozac/2443T1.PDF

DR. CASEY: Thank you.

Nancy Veasey?

MS. VEASEY: I am a registered nurse and I represent the

Philadelphia Prozac Survivors Support Group. I graduated

from Philadelphia General in 1953, and I hope there may be one

or two up there who remember "old Blockley," and the ethical

background it represents.

I am here to present facts associated with the drug

Prozac. My curiosity about this drug erupted back in the late

spring of 1989. I will address those circumstances in the

last minute of these five minutes allotted to me today.

In September of 1990 an article appeared in The

Philadelphia Enquirer. As a result of that, the Prozac

Survivors Support Group in the Philadelphia area was launched

My involvement was solely to collect further data on the drug

for strictly personal reasons.

Through the fall and winter of 1990 and the fall of

1991 until today I met with and talked with by phone 15 people

directly and indirectly affected by the drug, not a very

impressive group, but what is impressive is that, out of the 15

recorded in my notes, there are five deaths

These are the facts.

A 36-year-old mother of two, while on prozac,

attempted suicide by impulsively ingesting a toxic dose of

medication.

A 42-year-old man watched helplessly as his 36 year old wife
casually, with no warning, picked up a knife and cut

both of her wrists while on Prozac.

A 50-year-old man with some memory impairment

struggles today to express the devastating and long-lasting

effect of this drug.

A 49-year-old man, while on Prozac, blacked out

while driving and was involved in a car accident.

A 71-year-old man shot himself seven days after

being prescribed Prozac, one week before his daughter’s

wedding.

A 58-year-old man, while on Prozac, developed

violent behavior directed toward his sister, his primary

caretaker. He was hospitalized. He has since died.

The mother of a 40-year-old female Harvard physician

found her daughter dead. On the nightstand was a bottle

labeled Prozac. The coroner’s report showed an excessive amount

of Prozac in the blood. Just three months ago, upon receiving

her daughter’s effects, her grief-stricken husband died.

Needless to say, this is one woman who is literally

immobilized by grief, as I am sure many others here today are,

In June of this year a woman found her husband dead

by hanging in the basement of their home one week after Prozac

was prescribed for him. There were no signs or warning

signals. He simply got up, as he did frequently at night, and

went downstairs and hung himself. His son cannot go down

there to this day.

There are others here. But in the last minute I

wanted to say I would not be here today had my daughter not

been prescribed Prozac in the spring of 1989. I would not be

here had she not been nearly fatally injured in an auto accident

on the morning of August 11, 1989, requiring air transport to

the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania remaining on life

support in the trauma unit there for 12 days.

By her 29th birthday she was able to walk with only one crutch.

In February, a second-stage facial peeling with

bone grafts was scheduled to further reconstruct 27 facial

bones that had been shattered in her face. In March,

recovering from that procedure, the psychiatrist again

prescribed Prozac. She was subsequently hospitalized.

I will close with words describing the effect of

Prozac on all of us here today and those we love most dearly.

We have suffered serious and severe permanent physical and

personal injuries, mental and emotional distress, adversely

affecting our ability to enjoy life fully. Thank you.