Suit puts 'mind-altering' drug on trial
Its makers say it
combats depression and prevents suicide. A lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. claims it
is responsible for the violent rage that led Canadian actor Phil Hartman's wife,
Brynn, to kill him and then herself
Jonathon Gatehouse
National Post
The shocking murder-suicide that claimed the lives of Canadian comedian Phil
Hartman and his wife, Brynn, one year ago this week was triggered by her use of
a popular antidepressant, claims a newly filed wrongful death suit.
Gregory Omdahl, Mrs. Hartman's brother, and the executor of the couple's estate,
filed suit against Pfizer Inc., the makers of the antidepressant Zoloft, in
California court this week, alleging that his sister was under the
"mind-altering" influence of the drug when she murdered her husband and then
committed suicide last May. The civil action, on behalf of the couple's
children, Sean, 10, and Birgen, 7, seeks unspecified damages. It also names Dr.
Arthur Sorosky, the Los Angeles psychiatrist who allegedly gave Mrs. Hartman
samples of the drug.
"[Mr. Omdahl] believes that Zoloft was a substantial contributing factor to the
death of his sister and brother[-in-law]," Andy Vickers, the Houston, Tex.,
attorney representing the Hartman estate said yesterday. Pfizer's own scientists
have written papers admitting some patients develop severe reactions to the drug
and other similar antidepressants that "can lead to death, suicide, and
violence," the lawyer alleged.
Mr. Hartman, the 49-year-old star of the TV sitcom NewsRadio, was shot in the
head by his wife while he slept in the master bedroom of his Encino, Calif.,
home during the early morning hours of May 28, 1998.
After confessing the crime to a friend, Mrs. Hartman, 40, barricaded herself in
the room and committed suicide several hours later as a police emergency
response team ferried her children to safety.
The celebrity murder-suicide was tabloid fodder for months. Some reports
suggested that Mrs. Hartman had become distraught after receiving a note from
her husband that implied he wanted to end their stormy 10-year relationship.
Others blamed the deaths on her depression and drug use, pointing to the cocaine
and alcohol medical examiners found in her system.
But the 16-page lawsuit paints a different picture of the tragic event.
The couple did not have an "Ozzie and Harriet marriage" but they had worked hard
to overcome their differences, the document says. While Brynn Hartman had
ingested cocaine and drank on the night of the deaths, she did so after she
murdered her husband, not before. The real cause of her violent rage was the
antidepressant she had been taking for a month, the suit contends.
"Brynn Hartman was a human, not a saint. And like any human, she had her share
of shortcomings and 'stressors' in her life," lawyers wrote in the filing. "What
all that knew her well will tell is that she was not a violent person, and she
was a devoted mother who would never have deprived her children of their father
or their mother unless she was acting under the influence of extremely powerful,
mind-altering drugs."
The suit alleges that Mrs. Hartman's difficulties began two months before the
crime, after Dr. Sorosky, 10-year-old Sean's psychiatrist, gave her several
sample kits of Zoloft when she confided that she had been suffering from
moodiness and panic attacks.
Later, the comedian's wife allegedly complained of insomnia, diarrhea, and
sensations like she was going to "jump out of her skin."
The alleged side-effects were warning signs the drug was provoking a psychotic
reaction, says the suit, a danger the drug company knew about but sought to
sweep under the carpet, and Dr. Sorosky was negligent in failing to detect.
Mr. Vickers said the civil action is not purely motivated by money, but by a
desire to make people aware of the dangers he and other critics believe are
posed by the widely prescribed anti-depressant drugs.
"In the last six to nine months I've been contacted by an awful lot of people
who have had misfortune visited upon them in the wake of taking Zoloft," he
said.
Mr. Vickers recently lost a similar suit in Hawaii, against the makers of
Prozac, brought by the family of a man who killed his wife and himself after
taking the antidepressant for 10 days.
It will likely be more than a year before the California suit comes to trial.
Representatives of the multinational Pfizer's American division, which sells
more than $1-billion a year worth of Zoloft, have refused to comment on the
suit. But Don Sancton, director of corporate affairs for the Canadian arm of the
company defended the product as safe and effective.
"It's made a tremendous difference to literally millions of people," he said.
"The safety of Zoloft and other [anti-depressant) drugs has been proven by years
of experience and use by patients around the world."
Mr. Sancton said his company receives letters from grateful Zoloft users,
thanking the corporation for discovering the drug and changing their lives.
Rather than inducing people to kill, the drug has saved countless lives, he
said.
"One of the very major outcomes of depression is suicide. Zoloft and other
anti-depressants, by successfully treating depression, it's fair to say, they
prevent a large number of suicides and have permitted millions of people around
the world to . . . live very good and productive lives," said Mr. Sancton.
Last Updated on
02/20/05
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