The New York State Supreme Court found in favor of Janice Mazella, widow of basketball coach and teacher Joe Mazella, in a malpractice suit against Dr. William Beals, who had prescribed Paxil to Mazella despite not having seen him for 10 years. “There’s no way he would’ve wanted to do it” (commit suicide) if he weren’t on such a large amount of antidepressants,” said Mrs. Mazella. “He said he felt like his head was on fire.” Expert witness Peter Breggin, in his blog, writes; “Many years ago, I used to believe that people must be held responsible for their own behavior under all conditions, but my philosophical beliefs were eventually eroded by the mountain of scientific evidence that I developed through my research and clinical experience indicating that psychiatric drugs can indeed drive people to suicide.”
Widow of former Henninger High coach Joe Mazella wins $1.5M in lawsuit over his suicide → (Syracuse Post-Standard)
Of further interest:
Jury Awards $1.5 Million in Suicide Malpractice Suit (Huffington Post)
