For Some, Lexapro Side Effects Run Deeper Than Mere Statistics

Harrisonburg, VAA Lexapro side effects lawsuit that ended in the granting of summary judgment in favor of the defendant may have dismissed or disproved any claims by the plaintiff for failure to warn. What the decision didn’t do is disprove or cast doubt on the risk for suicide amongst patients prescribed the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI).

SSRIs represent a class of high-powered antidepressants indicated for anxiety and major depressive disorder. For patients with such conditions, they can be highly effective. However, many a Lexapro lawsuit has alleged grievous side effects that range from worsening depression and suicidal thoughts to Lexapro birth defects.

New Years is supposed to be a time of renewal. However, for the family of Chandra Shuck of Michigan it was a time of sad reflection as they looked back on the brief life of their daughter. Born with various heart defects in April 2005, the little girl lived just two weeks in spite of four open-heart surgeries.

Chandra Shuck had been prescribed Lexapro to treat her depression, and continued on the drug during her pregnancy. The lawsuit, filed in early January, alleges that Lexapro was never approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use with pregnant women. And yet, the manufacturers of Lexapro allegedly promoted the SSRI antidepressant for use in women of child-bearing age - including pregnant women - when studies had already indicated that the likelihood of newborn birth defects was heightened with Lexapro.

Shuck is suing both Forest Laboratories, which markets Lexapro in the US, and H. Lundbeck A/S, the Danish pharmaceutical firm responsible for inventing escitalopram (Lexapro). Lundbeck licensed Forest Laboratories to market and vend Lexapro in the US in 1998.

The case is Chandra Shuck et al. v. Forest Laboratories Inc. et al., Case No. 1:14-cv-00114, in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Meanwhile, a US District Court in Harrisonburg found that two psychiatrists treating a patient, who ultimately took his own life while taking Lexapro, were independently aware of a new or increased risk of suicide amongst some patients. The finding scuttled the plaintiff’s assertion with regard to failure to warn, but amplified the potential risk for suicidal thoughts while taking an SSRI and, in this case, Lexapro.

According to an account in Virginia Lawyers Weekly (9/15/14), “both doctors testified that they were aware, prior to treating plaintiff, that SSRIs, while generally effective in treating anxiety and depression, could cause an increased risk of suicidality in certain patients, and that, as such, patients should be closely monitored.”

The case is Higgins v. Forest Laboratories (Urbanski), Case No. 5:07cv54, Sept. 8, 2014; USDC at Harrisonburg, Va. VLW 014-3-473, 23 pp.

Lexapro side effects can include suicidal thoughts in some patients, as well as Lexapro pph, or persistent pulmonary hypertension, in newborns. Such SSRI drugs, in the eyes of the FDA, have a favorable benefit/risk profile allowing the drugs to remain on the market.

However, for those directly affected by Lexapro birth defects or other Lexapro side effects, the fallout runs much deeper than a mere statistic.