6/02/09 (NY):
Zoloft Defense Part of LI Case
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Zoloft, a widely prescribed antidepressant, has taken on the role of a shadow defendant in a Nassau County domestic violence case.
The pill could soon find itself on trial in First District Court in Hempstead along with Brandon Hampson, 39, of Coram, who is accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend. Judge Rhonda Fischer is expected to rule Wednesday on a prosecution motion challenging her decision to allow testimony by a physician who is a defense witness.
Pfizer Inc. of Manhattan, which makes Zoloft, is concerned enough about the outcome of the case to pay an expert witness thousands of dollars to defend the pill in court.
Across the country, defense attorneys have employed a so-called Zoloft defense, arguing - mostly unsuccessfully - that the pill or withdrawal from it spurs violence in some users.
Hampson's former girlfriend, Lisa Essling, 28, of Malverne, said he punched and kicked her on Aug. 25, 2006, at the Lynbrook apartment where he then lived. Essling said he broke an eye bone and injured her skull, neck and back.
"I think that's just an evil excuse he's using," Essling said of Hampson's Zoloft defense.
"They argued, and she wanted to leave," said Hampson's Manhattan attorney, Eric Bernstein, who said his client "had stopped taking Zoloft" at least several days before the assault.
Hampson, who did jail time after pleading guilty to first-degree assault in a 1995 stabbing case, now faces charges of attempted assault, menacing and unlawful imprisonment.
The Food and Drug Administration has warned about slight risks for suicidal behavior in a small number of people using some antidepressants, including Zoloft. But the FDA has not blamed such drugs for violent behavior.
Still, Bernstein points to the FDA's Canadian counterpart - Health Canada - which has said adverse events associated with drugs in the same category as Zoloft include hostility and aggression. Health Canada has not said such drugs cause users to harm others.
Pfizer is paying Dr. Douglas Jacobs, a well-known psychiatrist and associate clinical professor at Harvard Medical School, $7,500 a day to testify as a witness for the prosecution. Jacobs has already said in a pretrial hearing that withdrawal from Zoloft does not cause violence.
"Pfizer's evaluation of Zoloft data never has revealed any signal of an increased risk of violence related to either use of discontinuation of use of Zoloft," said Pfizer spokesman Christopher Loder.
Jacobs' testimony could help convict Hampson. But if he is acquitted, that could adversely affect Zoloft sales.
Arthur Caplan, a University of Pennsylvania medical ethicist, said having Jacobs testify is a problem, given his payments from Pfizer.
"When you get into a position where you're being asked to comment on a drug made by a manufacturer who pays you, that poses an ethics problem," Caplan said.
Eric Phillips, a spokesman for the Nassau district attorney's office, said: "Such an expert might cost the taxpayers $25,000 or more, and without an expert the case is substantially weakened. By making Pfizer hire the expert to defend its drug, we can continue to fight on behalf of the victim."
Monroe Freedman, a Hofstra University law professor, said, "There's nothing unethical about the prosecutor's use of the witness."
© X-Pro 2009
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