Prozac class drug blamed for killing
SARAH BOSELEY HEALTH EDITOR

05/26/2001
The Guardian
Copyright (C) 2001 The Guardian; Source: World Reporter (TM)

Sarah Boseley Health editor

One of the Prozac class of drugs, the antidepressant Lustral, has been blamed by a judge for causing a peaceful, law-abiding man to strangle his wife and attempt suicide in a decision that could have worldwide repercussions.

David Hawkins, from Guernsey, who emigrated with his family to Australia in the 1960s, will be freed in July after the New South Wales supreme court judge said Hawkins' actions were totally out of character.

'But for the Zoloft (the Australian and US brand name for Lustral) which he took on the morning of August 1 1999, it is overwhelmingly probable that Mrs Hawkins would not have been killed on that morning,' said Judge Barry O'Keefe.

This is the first time a court has blamed a violent killing and would-be suicide on one of the Prozac class of drugs - the SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors - and is likely to help those families with civil cases against the drug companies.

It also raises questions about the safety of the antidepressants. Prozac alone is thought to have been prescribed to more than 38m people around the world since it was launched in the 1980s. Mr Hawkins took too high a dose of the drug. A big selling point has always been that the SSRIs are safe even in overdose.

What litigation there has been over the SSRIs has been civil claims from families pursuing the drug companies after the suicide of a relative, sometimes following a murder. Some of the cases in the US have been settled out of court, but families have failed to establish that the drugs are to blame.

Hawkins survived to face a criminal prosecution for the murder, reduced to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He pleaded guilty. He had started to gas himself in his car after ringing to tell police what he had done, but stopped because of his worries over the effect of two deaths on his daughter.

In his judgment, the judge accepted that Hawkins, 74 at the time, had a very good relationship with his wife. He had never shown any violence to anyone in the family or ill-treated them. 'In summary, he was a good father, a steady worker and an excellent provider. At no time was he in trouble with the law.'

The Hawkins lived in Tumbarumba, where they had moved to be close to their older daughter and grandchildren, but in December 1995, their younger daughter died from breast cancer. Then their elder daughter moved away and the Hawkins set about selling their home to follow. It took them four years.

Hawkins had been prescribed Zoloft for depression after his daughter's death, but was unhappy with the way it made him feel, 'as if he was walking two feet above the ground' and did not take it more than once.

As the sale of the house drew nearer, he became depressed and anxious and was again given Zoloft.

According to the judgment, during the night before strangling his wife Hawkins took a tablet of Zoloft because he was unable to sleep.

In his interview, Hawkins told police: 'I was that bad that night. I had taken Panadol. I couldn't sleep. I was panicking. I just was, I couldn't, I couldn't, I couldn't function, so I took one (Zoloft tablet) . . . And I went back to bed and waited. It had no effect and I, I don't know, I must have taken more.'

In all, he took 250mg. The normal dose is 50mg, which can be gradually increased to 200mg a day. In the morning Hawkins went to fetch some wood from outside. He met his wife in the doorway. 'I just went absolutely berserk. I can remember shouting and screaming . . . I was berserk, I went absolutely berserk. I have never done it before,' Hawkins told police. He said he thought he saw his own face instead of his wife's and he strangled her.

Bill Ketelbey, Pfizer's senior medical director in Australia, said: 'Only one side - the defence - presented any data about the effects of Zoloft and what occurred could hardly be considered a rigorous examination of all the clinical and medical data surrounding this medicine.' He said Zoloft had been used safely by tens of millions of people around the world for more than 10 years.