Paxil is at the Center of a Sex Abuse Cover up
The maker of Paxil, GlaxoSmithKline, has been linked to many different lawsuits lately. Glaxo again is accused of ignoring the suicide risk that is involved with patients that take Paxil. This time, however, Glaxo and Paxil are being linked to the Catholic Church’s efforts to cover-up a child abuse case and the death of a Paxil-prescribed priest whose sister was involved.
It is said that Father Rick Tucker committed suicide because he was feeling distraught about how his parish decided to ignore a child abuse claim. He was taking Paxil at the time, and many believe that the drug may be directly responsible for him taking his own life. Judge David Hamilton, a federal judge in Indiana, ruled that Tucker's sister Debra had just cause to sue Glaxo over the death of her brother. He decided that the drug’s side effects may have made the priest kill himself — not the stress of the cover up as some others believed. Tucker shot himself to death in September 2002.
The abuse case began in 1966. Debra was young and was allegedly raped by a choir instructor in St. Lawrence 3-4 times per month. It is also said that she also had an abortion at some point because the abuser told her to. The abuse stopped when she moved after the death of her parents. Once the incidents were mentioned to the church, officials apparently didn't do anything about it and that they tried to hide it from the rest of the congregation and the public. Debra sued them for breach of contract in 2000. The tried to make a deal with the church that would keep her abuser away from any and all children in the church. In return she would not sue the church.
Tucker was so anxious about his sister's plight (the rapes and the lawsuit) that he began taking Paxil August 28, 2002, to calm himself down. The drug immediately sent him into a depressive tailspin that eventually led to his suicide, his sister claims.
Debra's specific claims against Glaxo and Paxil note that the company knew of the suicidal effects of Paxil since 1990 and that it didn't warn the public properly. When Glaxo asked that the case be dismissed, the judge decided that the case needed to be heard.
