Columbine Shooting victims’ families sue maker of anti-depressant Luvox (fluvoxamine). Here we go again. As much sympathy as I have for their loss, this is slummin’ avarice. Reaching for the deep pockets of the pharmaceutical industry in their grief is thoughtless and unscrupulous. Just as in the Paxil-induced murder claim lawsuit I wrote about last year, the grounds for suing revolve around the claim the the firm fails to warn doctors about side effects. This is specious on several accounts:

• violence is not a side effect of fluvoxamine or other SSRIs
  

• the manufacturer does warn of side effects, in the form of its prescribing literature. Ironically, companies set themselves up for added liability because they are overinclusive in listing potential side effects.
  

• If there were liability (and I don’t believe there is), it would be on the prescribing physician instead, who is responsible for adequate familiarity with the assessment of the effectiveness and complications from a drug s/he prescribes.
  

• Claiming that “manic and psychotic” effects of the drugs caused the gunman’s violence is a slur on those with mental illness, who are less violent than the population at large, and perpetuates fear-provoking, ignorant, unjust prejudices.

Of course, whether the case has merit bears no relationship, in the scheme of things, with whether a ‘jury of peers’ having ther heartstrings plucked by ambulance-chasing three-piece suits will bring back a just finding. Ananova