Did the Rx Kill, or the Father?

Deadly Treatment
Judge Cites Hyperactivity Drug in Homicide Acquittal

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Ten days after he began taking a widely used medicine called Adderall to control his attention deficit disorder and help him with his college studies, Ryan Ehlis slipped into a psychotic fog and killed his infant daughter.
God, he said, told him to do it.
Today, the 24-year-old University of North Dakota student is out of jail and back in school, acquitted of murder by a judge who ruled his psychotic state was an extremely rare side effect of Adderall. Medical experts and the drug’s manufacturer say that despite the slaying, Adderall remains a safe and effective drug for controlling attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
“Within days after taking Adderall, the man started hearing voices. According to his lawyer, he believed God was telling him to leave his body and bring his daughter with him to save the world.”

Within days after taking the medicine in January, Ehlis started hearing voices. He believed God was telling him to leave his body and bring his daughter with him to save the world, said his lawyer, John Thelen. His conditioned worsened until, on Jan. 30, Ehlis killed his 5-week-old daughter, Tara, with a shotgun, then shot himself in the abdomen. He recovered from the wound and was charged with murder. Earlier this month, psychiatrists testified before a judge that the shootings happened solely because of a psychotic state caused by the prescription drug. Judge Debbie Kleven agreed, ruling that Ehlis lacked the capacity to understand what he was doing. Ehlis has declined comment on the case but said he returned to normal days after he stopped taking the medication. He is back home with his common-law wife and three other children. “I’m doing very well, and my family is doing pretty good, too, considering the circumstances,” he said.
The drug’s labeling warns that in very rare cirumstances, it can cause “psychotic episodes at recommended doses.”
“We have always been aware there was a very slight risk of psychotic side effects with this drug, but this was the most severe case that’s ever occurred,” said Stefan Antonsson, vice president of marketing for Shire Richwood Inc., the Florence, Ky., maker of the drug. Since Adderall was made available on a widespread basis in 1996, the company has received 10 reports of “general psychotic events” from the drug’s use, Antonsson said.
“They all seemed to resolve without significant injury to the user or other people,” he said.
More than a million Adderall prescriptions were written in 1997, Antonsson said. That figure rose to 2.3 million in 1998, and in the first nine months of this year the number has increased to 2.7 million, he said.
Source: ABC News, Click here for entire article