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Spring 2009

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  Spring 2009

Plan to Rake in Money off Pregnancy

The Melanie Blocker-Stokes Mother’s Act is moving for approval in the US Senate. The Act would require screening of pregnant women for mental illness. It is supported by a drug-funded coalition. They are bent on turning pregnancy into a cottage industry.

       Illinois Democrat Bobby Rush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid are pushing the Mothers Act. New Jersey’s Robert Menendez is the lead sponsor. New Jersey is home to a long list of drug companies.

       Postpartum Support International (PSI) is part of the coalition. Members are using blogs, books and conferences with titles like “Motherhood, Mood Disorders and Anxiety: Before and After Pregnancy” to promote the Mother’s Act. PSI’s “top specialist” is Dr. Shari Lusskin, a paid speaker of Glaxo, AstraXeneca, Pfizer and Wyeth.

       The drug industry funds front groups like National Alliance for Mental Illness (NAMI). They in turn have set up a websites supporting the Mother’s Act. The websites claim that new mothers need to be screened for “postpartum” depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, psychosis, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, post traumatic stress disorder and eating disorders! Recommended treatment for these “disorders” consists of the newest most expensive antidepressants, antipsychotics and anticonvulsants. Doctors often prescribe three or four of these for years on end.

       No psychotropic drug has FDA approval for use during pregnancy.

              The antipsychotics that would benefit if the Mother’s Act passes include Seroquel by AstraZeneca, Risperdal by Janssen, Geodon by Pfizer, Abilify from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Clozaril by Novartis, EliLilly’s Zyprexa, Prozac, Cymbaltaand Symbyax, GlaxoSmithKline’s Paxil and Wellbutrin, Pfizer’s Zoloft, Celexa and Lexapro from Forest Labs, Luvox by Solvay and Wyeth’s Effexor.

       A number of advocacy groups have set up websites against the Mother’s Act. One of these is UniteForLife.org. It is run by Amy Philo, a Texas mom.     Amy’s baby almost choked to death a few days after he was born. She became fearful and anxious after the near tragedy. When Philo went to her OB-GYN, he told her she had had a panic attack. He sent her home with samples of Zoloft. He said Zoloft would make both her and her baby happy! He told her she might need to take Zoloft for life. Her Pediatrician agreed.

       Within three days, Amy started having thoughts of killing her baby, her husband, her mother, her pets and herself. These were side effects of the Zoloft. So her doctor upped the dose. And he had her locked up in a mental ward. He also tried to give her Zyprexa for schizophrenia. Amy refused to take it. She wanted to nurse and was afraid it would harm the baby.

       Next a shrink tried to get Amy to take the sleeping pill, Ambien, the anti-anxiety drug, Klonopin, and Celexa, another antidepressant. Doctors pushed all these drugs on her even though she was nursing. They labeled Amy as having obsessive-compulsive disorder and severe depression.

       Amy lied her way out of the hospital. She convinced the shrinks that she no longer had bizarre thoughts. In reality, she remained obsessed with suicide and homicide for months waiting for the Zoloft to work. She finally quit taking it without MD permission. The obsessive thoughts stopped and never returned. She has had a second child with no Zoloft and no problems.

        Antidepressants are the number one drugs prescribed in the US—more than for antibiotics or diabetes meds.  These drugs make big bucks for drug companies. A thirty-day supply of Zyprexa costs $724. A thirty day supply of Zoloft is $105. Klonopin costs $66 for 30 days. Ambien is $146. Delexa cost $97. The hospital raked in $8,000 for Amy’s two-day stay in the mental ward. Amy had an $800 co-pay. The average cost of private inpatient treatment is over $30,000 a month.

       Unite For Life sent a letter to members of Congress urging them to vote against the Mother’s Act. The letter reported on the number of antidepressants-caused infant deaths and injuries in the past four years, based on the FDA’s MedWatch.  4,360 babies were born with serious or life-threatening birth defects. 4,160 babies were born with potentially fatal hear defects or heart disease. There were 2,900 miscarriages and 3,000 premature births.

       Warning labels on psych drugs say that babies exposed “late in the third trimester have developed complications requiring prolonged hospitalization, respiratory support and tube feeding…Reported clinical findings have included respiratory distress cyanosis, apnea, seizures, temperature instability, feeding difficulty, vomiting, hypoglycemia, hypotonia, hypertonia, hyperreflexia, tremor, jitteriness, irritability and constant crying.”

       In 2005, insurance companies paid an average of $4,247 per day for babies in neonatal intensive care. Direct health care costs for a premature baby average $41,610. This is 15 times higher that the $2,830 for a healthy, full-term delivery.
       The law firm of Baum Hedlund is currently representing over 200 families whose babies were born with birth defects after the mothers used psych drugs.

       For more info, contact Evelyln Pringle at: epringle05@yahoo.com