Citation

Whitehead PD. J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law 2003; 31(3): 377-382.

Affiliation

Forensic Acute Unit, Utah State Hospital, Provo, UT, USA. pwhitehe@utah.gov

Copyright

(Copyright © 2003, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Publisher American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

14584540

Abstract

In Tobin v. SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming found that the medication Paxil "can cause some individuals to commit homicide and/or suicide," and that it was a legal cause of the deaths in this case. A motion was recently put before the United States District Court for the District of Utah to adopt the findings of the Tobin case--via the application of collateral estoppel--to a case involving an individual's suicide while prescribed Paxil. This article summarizes these two cases, as reflected in court documents, and comments on limitations of common causality assertions.

Language: en