Prozac Mailed Unsolicited to a Teenager in Florida
By: Adam Liptak
NY Times, July 20, 2002
Hey, Mom," Michael Grinsted, 16, said as he
opened his mail recently, "they sent me Prozac."
His mother, Sue Grinsted, of West Palm Beach, Fla.,
said she had worried about people offering illegal drugs to her son but
had not thought about unsolicited mailings of prescription drugs like
Prozac, an antidepressant.
Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Prozac, has apologized
for earlier mailings of unsolicited drugs to adults with histories of
depression. A spokesman for Lilly, Austin Blair, said the company was
unaware of the new incident.
"We are investigating the Florida matter
vigorously and are taking appropriate action," Mr. Blair said.
"We continue to believe that this is a very, very isolated
incident."
The hand-addressed envelope to Michael bore the
return address of a Walgreens drugstore in West Palm Beach. It contained a
one-month supply of Prozac Weekly and a "Dear Patient" form
letter ostensibly from a doctor who practiced in a medical group that
treated Michael, but was not known to the Grinsteds.
"I'm sending you a new one-month prescription of
Prozac Weekly, which is the new and only antidepressant indicated for the
maintenance phase of depression," the form letter said. The name on
the letter was Dr. Jeff Bishop.
The Grinsteds say Michael has never suffered from
depression or taken any drug like Prozac. Dr. Bishop did not return a call
for comment.
The Grinsteds said they might join a class-action
lawsuit that a 59-year-old woman filed this month in state court in Fort
Lauderdale against Lilly, the Walgreen Company and several doctors.
The suit says the defendants misused patients'
medical records and invaded their privacy. It also contends that the
drugstore chain and Lilly engaged in the unauthorized practice of
medicine.
Michael Polzin, a spokesman for the Walgreen Company,
said it apologized to people who received unsolicited drugs. In this case,
Mr. Polzin said, the pharmacy simply carried out the doctor's
instructions, after confirming with him that every patient was taking
antidepressants.
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