Litigation against Paxil begins

05:58 PM CDT on Wednesday, August 2, 2006

By Chau Nguyen / 11 News

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You might remember all the national attention surrounding the drug Vioxx and the many lawsuits waged around the country.

KHOU-TV

Chase was born with half a heart.

There’s now a new wave of litigation against another popular drug, the popular anti depressant Paxil. Some women who took the drug while they were pregnant are claiming their babies were born with severe birth defects.

One woman in the Houston area says that’s exactly what happened to her.
She spoke only to 11 News about her Paxil problems. Her baby is on life support and this mother’s life will never be the same.

“I mean it’s been a roller coaster,” said Lisa Collins Steele

When she talks about her 9-month-old son Chase, it’s not easy.

“You see your child the way I see him. Most people shouldn’t go through this in their lifetime,” she said.

What Chase is going through is surviving with just half a heart. He was born this way.

Now, Collins believes it could have been prevented had her doctor warned her not to continue taking the anti-depressant drug Paxil.

Last December the Food and Drug Administration, as well as the makers of Paxil, Glaxo Smith Klein, issued an alert advising the risk of birth defects for pregnant women taking Paxil.

But Collins stopped taking the drug a few months before that warning came out.

“Had Lisa known about this, she wouldn’t have taken Paxil,” said attorney Robert Kwok.

Kwok now represents Collins in a liability and negligence lawsuit, suing her doctor and Glaxo Smith Klein.

“And we’re gonna ask that the jury consider punishing GSK,” he said.

Collins wants the parties to pay the hundreds of thousands in mounting medical bills, plus additional unspecified damages.

“Chase doesn’t understand why he turns blue why he gets seizures why he has to take a bucket of medicine a day,” Kwok said.

Chase has already undergone one open heart surgery and has made at least a dozen trips to the hospital for emergency care.

For now, his prognosis is uncertain.

Late this afternoon 11 News received a call from Glaxo Smith Klein’s corporate public relations representative.

She said the company doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits, but is aware of Lisa Collins’ case.

We should add that a similar lawsuit was filed by a woman in Bedford Texas.

Kwok says he knows of an estimated 50 cases around the country being reviewed.

FDA Warning:

"The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has determined that exposure to paroxetine in the first trimester of pregnancy may increase the risk for congenital malformations, particularly cardiac malformations." read full text here

http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou060802_cd_paxil.2a55ab1.html