Suicide Prozac 23/09/1990 Michigan Daughter Testifies for Father who Killed Himself on Prozac
Summary:
http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/AC/prozac/2443T1.PDF
Melinda Harris, please?
MS. HARRIS: Melinda Harris. Let me state one
thing, that listening to the opposition has made me stronger
-- hopefully I won’t cry.
I’m not against all psychiatric
all antidepressants, but I’m against Prozac because it killed
my father.
I am an airline secretary, part-time model,
sales rep, and a maid. My father took Prozac. He
started taking it around May of 1990.
September of 1990 something very, very
bad and very violent
happened. A lot of the people that I’ve talked to that have
taken Prozac start out feeling a good perky upbeat feeling.
Then a terrible change starts to occur.
Unfortunately, with my dad we didn’t have time to
notice too many changes, except that he became withdrawn and
agitated. But by that time it was too late. He got up at 9
o’clock in the morning, took a 12-inch butcher knife out of
the kitchen drawer and stabbed himself violently in the
abdomen once and then proceeded to do it twice.
His girlfriend’s son caught him in the process and
dialed 911. My dad suffered three miserable months in the
University of Michigan with wounds so severe that he had tube
stuck in all pertinent areas of his body. My father told the
nurse he was sorry he did it.
I know my dad was sorry he did it. I know my dad
did not want to die. All his medical records say that he was
not suicidal and had no thoughts in that way. My dad did not
like pain. If my dad ever wanted to die, I know he would have
done it in a quiet, easy way.
To watch an 8-inch-long wound about 3 or 4 inches
wide heal from the inside out is something most common people
don’t see. They had a sheet of plastic over his wound and I
could see his intestines. Did it scare me? No. When you
love someone, nothing matters.
I will talk any time about Prozac negatively and I
will do anything I can to help put a stop to this drug. You
may think my talk is rather morbid or radical but it is not.
It is plain fact and truth and my testimony to make you people
realize what a dangerous drug this is. I have talked to
numerous people about this drug and no one except maybe 5
percent has anything positive to say about it.
If Prozac were ever to stay on the market, it would
have to stay in the hospital, with patients under constant
supervision.
Someone made a statement to me the other day about
Prozac and said what if Prozac got out on the streets and drug
users on the street starting take it. That thought scared me
almost more than anything in my entire life.
People on the streets taking double and triple doses and becoming
violent, aggressive, and cutting people up?
Can you imagine?
I thought maybe if Prozac was monitored it would
be okay. But, no, I am sorry, my
neutral attitude has withered, I have heard too many stories,
There is a lady, Marilyn, in Michigan, a couple of
towns from me. Marilyn was too sad to come today. Her
husband had no previous mental or emotional illness. He
suddenly got depressed and went to the doctor and the doctor
said, "I have a miracle drug for you." Three weeks later her
husband shot himself and suffered for five weeks. Marilyn and
I were not alone, and I’m sure there are many more people like
us. That is why I came today, to meet other people who know
the pain, and to put a stop to the pain Prozac creates.
I believe Prozac does alter the mind. I also know
people have picked at the Scientologists, since they are
against psychiatric drugs. I am not a Scientologist, but I do
hate Prozac. You cannot label the Scientologists anymore,
because there are many others who hate the drug, too.
No one can bring my father back at the young age of 54
but I can help others live and I can talk about it. I
know my dad would have liked me coming here today and he would
have said, "That’s daddy’s little girl." No one can justify
the violent suicides and murders Prozac has provoked. This is
a real story, and God bless the people who believe and
understand that Prozac does kill. Thank you.