Posted on 05/17/2008 3:16:10 PM PDT by neverdem
Coroner officials released an autopsy report Friday suggesting that a slain Roosevelt High School sophomore who attacked a campus police officer was not taking proper dosages of drugs prescribed to control his mental illness.
Dr. David Hadden, Fresno County coroner, said it's clear that Jesus "Jesse" Carrizales, 17, had a high dose of the antidepressant Lexapro in his blood that could have caused him to be paranoid.
But the teen's blood also revealed he was not taking antipsychotic drugs.
Carrizales' family has said he was taking Lexapro and Geodon, an antipsychotic medication, for depression.
Hadden said it's far too early to draw conclusions about Carrizales' use of prescription drugs. People react differently to drugs and have different tolerances to them.
"This picture is not complete," Hadden said.
On a night when family and friends held a vigil at Roosevelt High, the findings of his autopsy reveal new information about the special education student who was classified as emotionally disturbed.
At the Friday night vigil, family members said they still were waiting to see what the final police report on the incident says. They also said they had submitted a list of questions to Fresno Unified and had yet to receive answers.
"It hurts very much every day, and it doesn't get any easier," said Elisa Ortega, Carrizales' sister.
Said his uncle, Gilbert Abarca: "Something has to change."
Gloria Hernandez, a mental health patient advocate who came to the vigil in support of the family, said the Police Department needs to provide training to officers in how to deal with the mentally ill.
"They need to learn how to de-escalate the situation," she said...
(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...
Serotonin syndrome: a complex but easily avoidable condition.
” antidepressant”
I’ve read that kids taking antidepressants can become violent.
Also all of the school shooters are on some type of antidepressant.
” antidepressant”
I’ve read that kids taking antidepressants can become violent.
Also all of the school shooters are on some type of antidepressant.
Perry was struck on the head with a sawed-off bat as soon as he left his campus office. When Perry fell to the ground, Carrizales raised the bat again, causing the officer to pull out his duty weapon.
And I love how the family is saying something has to "change" (does that mean the officer should have allowed himself to be bludgeoned some more?) The whole thing is unfortunate, but what could "change" is them having made sure this kid was taking his medications properly, that is, if they are of the mindset of assigning blame anywhere.
This reminds me of the incident with the woman who died at Sky Harbor airport after being detained, while transiting from NY to a detox facility in Tucson. There the call was made by family members asking for TSA personnel to be trained in recognizing alcohol dependence and mental health issues.
This is the kind of thing that emerges from the (proper) guilt the family feels for not having taken precautions/monitored this child more carefully. Nonetheless, I suspect they will file suit in the near future.
The police have a difficult enough mission without being loaded up with all sorts of extraneous functions like mental health diagnoses. In the law there is a concept of "least cost avoidance" of accidents or incidents like this - and the party with the best opportunity to prevent such incidents is this kid's family.
My son was telling me his roommate would stay up all night playing video games and only taking his meds when he knew he was going to be drinking because he felt it made him get drunk faster.... he was drinking a lot and not going to class.
Finally, I had a” God moment” I was in church and someone asked me about my son. Without naming names I said he had roommate problems. She knew that family and said his parents would want to know. I really was afraid this kid would commit suicide and really had no business being away from home. I prayed for guidance before I called his mom and we had a good conversation. She thanked me and he is now living back home and taking a few classes at a local college.
It is a lesson for all of us, do not be afraid to intervene it could save a life.
well sure..but its not like random people are given ssri’s and anti psychotics. they are given to people who are depressed and psychotic. Therefore it shouldn’t be surprising that trouble kids who do dumb things are on these drugs.
I'm having a little problem with why this kid was NOT being monitored by adults with regards to his medications.
JMHO, of course
Mainstreaming these kids is BS. We are asking for trouble both for them and those around them.
Technically speaking, why was this kid walking around in public if he was classified as “disturbed”; this crap has reached comedic proportion, but the joke is on us.
Ok, change, eh? a) those with a diagnosed mental illness get institutionalized, b) the idea that there is a cure or even control is purged from the text books, c) the family who knew of the illness but did not ensure meds were taken properly get charged with all the crimes that their family member committed. How's that for change?
In Oxnard, California, a few years back there was a death of a mentally ill teenager that produced a similar response from the family, followed by the predictable lawsuit. The city fathers responded to the family’s second-guessing by requiring that the police department deal with the violently mentally ill by not attempting to take them into custody, but instead cordoning off the area, then calling mental health ‘professionals’.
Three weeks after the new policy was adopted, a kid went berserk and attacked his family. The officers duly evacuated the family, cordoned off the house, called mental health, and waited. And, while they were waiting, the kid killed himself.
The family, of course, sued the city on the grounds that the police should have attempted to take the kid into custody.
I'm having a little problem with why this kid was NOT being monitored by adults with regards to his medications.
"Carrizales' family has said he was taking Lexapro and Geodon, an antipsychotic medication, for depression."
I didn't notice any flamin'. Don't ask me why the coroner got toxicology reports on two other atypical antipsychotics that the kid wasn't taking, but not the one that he was taking, Geodon, aka ziprasidone. At least he got a lethal level for the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor(SSRI) that he was taking, Lexapro, which helped to cause the serotonin syndrome the kid most likely was having when he attacked the cop for no reason, although the coroner failed to list serotonin syndrome as one of the causes of death.
It seems to me one or more docs are liable for malpractice for missing a serious drug - drug interaction.
Ziprasidone — not an option for serotonin syndrome
The net result of ziprasidone on serotonergic neurotransmission makes it an inappropriate candidate for treating serotonin syndrome. Aside from the overt problem of directly stimulating 5-HT1A receptors, there is also the more subtle, yet still concerning, matter of indirectly stimulating these same receptors via antagonism of 5-HT2A receptors and inhibition of serotonin reuptake. In fact, there have been reported cases of serotonin syndrome precipitated by the use of other atypical antipsychotics, which are also 5-HT2A receptor antagonists, in combination with serotonergic drugs.5
SSRIs are serotonergic drugs. I'm sorry for all the pharmacology, but this case is not unlike Libby Zion's death from serotonin syndrome except she wasn't shot. Eighty five percent of docs according to one journal article don't know about serotonin syndrome.
P.S. The autopsy report is quite interesting.
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Pardon me. It's the first link in comment# 1: Coroner’s report on Jesus “Jesse” Carrizales(pdf)
There is a lot of research that indicates that the behaviour’s are a side effect of the drugs.
It’s like you don’t drive your car very well, then you consume 12 beers and wreck your car.
You wake up 3 hours later and don’t remember the crash.
Can read about it here.
http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/casualties.htm
http://www.erichufschmid.net/Columbine/Columbine-Bollyn.html
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