A Chicago Tribune investigation recently showed how many frail and vulnerable Illinois nursing home residents have been unnecessarily dosed with anti-psychotics, leading to harm and an increased risk of death. One psychiatrist, the Tribune found in a joint investigation with ProPublica, provided assembly-line care to thousands of mentally ill patients.
Medicare has stopped reimbursing a Miami psychiatrist who prescribed about 96,685 mental health drugs to Medicaid patients in 18 months. U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said the figures are alarming and has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate Dr. Fernando Mendez Villamil and other top prescribers.
The letter from Senator Grassley does not mention Fernando Mendez-Villamil by name, but it cites documents from the Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration about a prescriber who wrote 96,685 prescriptions for from the last quarter of 2007 through the first quarter of 2009 for Medicaid patients. Mendez-Villamil wrote nearly twice as many prescriptions for psychiatric drugs as the No. 2 Medicaid prescriber in the state.
Michelle David filed a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, alleging the company’s antidepressant, Paxil was responsible for her son’s birth defects. David said she had taken Paxil while pregnant and was not aware of the potential side effects. The jury also found that Paxil was a factual cause of the little boy’s heart problems. David was awarded $2.5 million.
The fact that GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has paid $1 billion to settle lawsuits related to Paxil was disclosed by Bloomberg and not the company itself illustrates how lousy financial disclosure rules are in Europe and why drug companies based there cannot be trusted to tell the truth about what is going on with their litigation liabilities and, by extension, the safety of their drugs.
SHARE YOUR STORY/COMMENT: