Activists Take on Eli Lilly Over Off-Label Sale of Zyprexa

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Attorney, Ted Chabasinski, who works on cases involving psychiatric drugs, says he is shocked that the parents are charged with the death, "while the psychiatrist who prescribed the drugs that killed her will probably never be held accountable."

"The prosecutor makes much of the fact that the parents gave drugs to their daughter that were not approved for use in children," he points out, "but it is the doctor, not the parents, who is responsible for that."

Mr Chabasinski says the drug company executives, and the psychiatrists who collude with them, are criminally responsible for Rebecca's death. "This is an example," he states, "of how the drug industry and the psychiatric profession are out of control."

Houston Attorney, Andy Vickery, has been representing persons harmed by psychiatric drugs for many years and he also finds this story "appalling."

He states that the father seems to be a bad actor and he may have purposely overdosed the child, but says, "he isn't the one that started her on the psychoative medications and someone needs to do something to hold the prescribing physician accountable."

David Oaks, director of MindFreedom, an international human rights organization, also believes the psychiatrist should be charged with criminal negligence. "It's revealing," he notes, "that the criminal justice system has so far targeted the parents and not the psychiatrist."

MindFreedom is calling for criminal penalties against physicians for this level of abuse, Mr Oaks says, because it may be the only way to change their behavior.

Vera Sharav, the Director of the Alliance for Human Research Protections, also believes that the only way to stop the prescribing assault on children is to put the professionals who prescribe the toxic drug cocktails on trial in open court. "Let the public bear witness," she states, "to the proceedings that will demonstrate the absence of scientific-medical evidence to support the widespread misprescribing of harmful drugs for children."

Kelly Patricia O'Meara, author of, "Psyched Out: How Psychiatry Sells Mental Illness and Pushes Pills That Kill," says the most important issue raised in the media is the response by the psychiatrist who prescribed the drugs. "Given the known adverse reactions to many of these drugs, and that they are not approved for children," she also says, "the psychiatrist needs to be held responsible."

As for the behaviors of family members described in the media, Ms O'Meara says, the prescription drugs they were taking could have caused many of the same. "Hostile, violent behavior," she says, "is a possible side effect of many of the mind-altering drugs."

Dr Healy also notes that it is at least possible that some of the alleged behaviors of the parents could be caused by the drugs they were on. As far as drugging the whole Riley family, he says, there is no mental illness that effects an entire families.

The off-label drugging of the Riley children is not an isolated incident. None of the atypicals drugs are approved for children, yet on May 11, 2006, the Associated Press reported that the number of prescriptions written for children had increased 73% over a four year period, according to Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefits manager.

In addition to Zyprexa, the other atypicals in the same class include Seroquel (AstraZeneca) the drug given to the Riley children, Abilify (Bristol-Myers Squibb); Risperdal (Johnson & Johnson); Geodon (Pfizer); and Clozril (Novartis).

Dr Timothy Scott, author of, "America Fooled: The Truth about Antidepressants, Antipsychotics and How We've Been Deceived, reports a 2005 study that found there are approximately 30,000 children under 5 on these drugs.

Overall, child neurologist, Dr Fred Baughman, author of "The ADHD Fraud: How Psychiatry Makes "Patients" of Normal Children," reports that 10 million of the 50 million school children in the nation are on one or more psychiatric drugs and states: "This is death by psychiatry."

Along with Lilly, many of the above drug makers are currently under investigation by Federal and state law enforcement agencies for promoting the atypicals for off-label use. Lawsuits have also been filed to recover the money paid by public health care programs for the actual purchase of the drugs, as well as the cost of medical treatment for patients who developed diabetes and other health problems as a result of taking them.

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