Psychiatric Hospital staff ‘puzzled’ by teenager’s fatal overdose—maybe they should brush up on their drug warnings

A teenager who was under psychiatric “care” was found dead with two antipsychotic drugs in his system. The consulting psychiatrist says he is “puzzled” about his death and that they have “no explanation at all.” Really. Perhaps the good doctor should brush up on the international drug regulatory warnings for the drugs they are prescribing. CCHR’s psychiatric drug database contains 24 international drug regulatory warnings on Antipsychotic drugs, and 49 international studies citing side effects including diabetes, obesity, blood clots, heart problems, cardiac events, cancer, tumors, death/sudden death.

Note from CCHR:  This is pure negligence.  A teenager who was under psychiatric “care” was  found dead with two antipsychotic drugs in his system.  The consulting psychiatrist says he is “puzzled” about his death and that they have “no explanation at all.”  Really.   Perhaps the good doctor should brush up on the international drug regulatory warnings for the drugs they are prescribing.    CCHR’s psychiatric drug database contains 24 international drug regulatory warnings on Antipsychotic drugs, and 49 international studies citing side effects including diabetes, obesity, blood clots, heart problems,  cardiac events,  cancer, tumors, death/sudden death. Moreover, if as the psychiatrist claims,  this teenager was found to have two antipsychotics in his system, only one of which was prescribed (so they say) then obviously the psychiatric hospital staff is beyond negligent if in fact a teen already under the influence of mind-altering drugs, was able to get his hands on and ingest another psychiatric drug unbeknown to any of the staff.

A teenager with schizophrenia was found dead in a psychiatric hospital with a cocktail of drugs in his bloodstream, an inquest heard.

Patrick Bennett was discovered in his bed by a shocked nurse at Fulbourn Hospital, and a post-mortem revealed he had taken two anti-psychotic drugs – only one of which he had been prescribed – and paracetamol.

But doctors told an inquest in Huntindon they had no idea how the 19-year-old obtained them, and that he was too mentally ill to have planned and carried out a suicide.

Sue Lancaster, a staff nurse at the hospital, spoke of the moment she found the body of Mr Bennett, of Pound Lane, Kimbolton, on the morning of August 12, 2009.

She said: “It was then I saw his face and knew he was dead. His face still haunts me.”

Fellow nurse Margaret Molina said she was “certain” she had given Mr Bennett the correct dosage of 4.5ml of clozapine, an anti-psychotic drug, on the night before his death.

When asked about his behaviour, she added: “He didn’t seem clearly anxious or upset in any way, he just seemed bewildered.”

Dr Emilio Fernandez, a consultant psychiatrist who had assessed Mr Bennett, said he had “severe impairment in many daily activities”.

He told the inquest doctors suspected Mr Bennett had been hiding tablets in his mouth, so he was switched to a liquid form of clozapine.

He said this switch made his behaviour “more warm”, and he was transferred to a different ward days before his death.

Dr Fernandez described Mr Bennett as “one of the most severe cases I have ever seen in my life” who would not have had the “ability to plan or carry out any suicide attempt”.

He added: “We are all very puzzled about this, we have no explanation at all.”

Search international warnings and studies on antipsychotic and other psychiatric drugs here: http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/drug_warnings.php

Search for deaths reported to the US FDA from antipsychotic drugs here http://www.cchrint.org/psychdrugdangers/medwatch_psych_drug_adverse_reactions.php

Read the rest of the article here:  http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Hospital-staff-puzzled-by-teenagers-fatal-overdose.htm