“Paxil Ordered to Pay Woman $2.5 Million for Her Baby's Birth Defects - FOX News” plus 4 more

Paxil Ordered to Pay Woman $2.5 Million for Her Baby's Birth Defects - FOX News
HealthWatch: Dangers Of H1N1 & Pregnancy - CBS 2
U.S. Pregnancy Rate Is Dropping - Medscape News
Student describes self-injury, pregnancy in novel - Murray State News
Halle Berry And Padma Lakshmi Dare To Bare (PHOTOS) - Huffingtonpost.com

Paxil Ordered to Pay Woman $2.5 Million for Her Baby's Birth Defects - FOX News

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 06:47 AM PDT

PHILADELPHIA — A jury ordered GlaxoSmithKline to pay $2.5 million to a woman whose son was born with serious heart defects after she took the antidepressant Paxil during her pregnancy.

The closely watched verdict handed down Tuesday in Philadelphia was the first of about 600 similar cases pending across the country that blame Paxil for heart problems and other birth defects.

The jury found GlaxoSmithKline guilty of negligence but not outrageous conduct, and rejected punitive damages. The company vowed to appeal.

"The adverse events started to come in the late 1990s, early 2000. The evidence was overwhelming and alarming," said lawyer Jamie Sheller, who represented plaintiff Michelle David. "They could have known this way, way before they did, way before they changed the label in 2005."

Paxil was classified as a drug with no known link to increased birth defects from its introduction in 1992 through 2005. The Food and Drug Administration began warning in September 2005 that Paxil may be associated with birth defects and strengthened the warning four months later.

David, 28, of Bensalem delivered her full-term son, Lyam Kilker, in October 2005.

He was diagnosed with heart defects two months later and spent five months in a Philadelphia hospital, undergoing surgery to repair two holes in his heart, lawyer Jamie Sheller said Wednesday. He also has a third, separate heart defect and will need at least one more surgery as he grows, she said.

David, a dance teacher and former Philadelphia 76er cheerleader, has no history of heart defects in her family, her lawyer said.

GlaxoSmithKline argues that birth defects occur in 3 to 5 percent of all live births, whether or not the mother took medication during pregnancy.

"The scientific evidence does not establish that exposure to Paxil during pregnancy caused his condition," the drugmaker said in a statement. "Once approved for use, the company acted properly in marketing the medicine, including monitoring its safety, updating pregnancy information in the medicine's labeling as new information became available, and in communicating important safety information to regulatory agencies, the scientific community and the public.

Plaintiffs lawyers will continue to pursue punitive damages in the hundreds of remaining cases, the next of which is set for trial in Philadelphia in November.

"We're starting to chip away at this story, but even as we speak, we're still fighting them, documents are still being produced, depositions are still being taken," Sheller said.

Sales of Paxil totaled $849 million last year.

Paxil has competed fiercely in the marketplace at times with rival antidepressant blockbusters like Eli Lilly's Prozac and Pfizer's Zoloft. The drug no longer has patent protection and now competes against cheaper generic versions.

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HealthWatch: Dangers Of H1N1 & Pregnancy - CBS 2

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 08:16 PM PDT

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HealthWatch: Dangers Of H1N1 & Pregnancy

CBS 2 HD Speaks To New Mother Who Almost Missed Her Chance To See Her Child Grow Due To Nasty Virus

NEW YORK (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge: CBS

Pregnant women are among the first in line for the H1N1 vaccine -- and for a good reason.

CBS 2 HD has more on how the swine flu almost killed a new mother and the revolutionary treatment that saved her life.

Baby Liam is 2 months old and just now bonding with his mom.

"I just want to hold him close to me all the time," mother Karin McHugh said.

It's a happy homecoming now, but it was close to being a funeral for 29-year-old McHugh.

"I said to my husband if I don't make it out of this I'm sorry if I wasn't a good wife," McHugh said.

That was the last thing she remembers from July. She was 9 months pregnant and developed flu-like symptoms and had trouble breathing. The baby was delivered in an emergency c-section and ended up being fine.

Then Karin started crashing.

"There were several times that she was very close to death," said Dr. Scott Halpern of the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center.

Karin had one of the worst cases of H1N1 swine flu doctors have seen. Her lungs were incapacitated. Translation: No oxygen no life.

"Karin did die, and was resuscitated and brought back," Dr. Halpern said.

Her husband Brian was desperate.

"I really put her in God's hands. They were doing everything they could," Brian McHugh said.

Ventilators, drugs nothing was working. Karin's organs were shutting down.

In desperation, the team turned to heart-lung bypass, and a machine circulated oxygenated blood in her body for almost a month.

"It undoubtedly saved her life," Dr. Halpern said.

"I guess it just wasn't my time," Karin McHugh said.

She beat the odds and made it home still bandaged and bruised from tubes in her neck that kept her alive. She was reunited with her family.

"I missed the first two months of his life," Karin said.

We now know swine flu is especially dangerous for pregnant woman. Their best protection is the upcoming vaccine. It may be too late for Karin, but she said pregnant women should do anything they can to guard against the illness.

"It was just a downward spiral. I mean, I almost didn't make it," Karin said.

If you're pregnant and begin to experience flu-like symptoms such as fever, muscle aches and runny nose, let your doctor know immediately. Early intervention with antiviral medications may be appropriate and can cut down on the risk of serious complications.

Pregnant women are four times more likely to be hospitalized with swine flu than the general population.

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U.S. Pregnancy Rate Is Dropping - Medscape News

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 05:38 PM PDT

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Student describes self-injury, pregnancy in novel - Murray State News

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 05:52 PM PDT

"I wish I could tell someone about the things I've kept secret for so long, but no one would understand or even want to hear it. I'm not telling anyone. I can't, I won't. It's no one's burden but mine, and I'll carry it alone. One quick slice, and I was okay for the moment."
These were the words of a 17-year-old who, instead of planning for prom and summer break had to deal with pregnancy, tendinitis, a bipolar brother, a distant mother, a difficult father, a sick grandmother and the everyday problems of being a teenager.
This is the story of Jessie McDowell, freshman from Smithland, Ky., and author of the published non-fiction novel "Where My Ink Comes From."
Using a compilation of entries from her journals, notebooks, blog and songs she wrote, McDowell was not only able to self-publish a book, but regain control of her life.
"I wanted to write a book, but I didn't know how to tell a story better than my journal," McDowell said.
McDowell said she began writing when she was 8 years old after watching the film "Harriet the Spy." It was not until later that writing in her journal became an outlet for her; self-injury soon followed, she said.
"It was something I felt obligated to do," McDowell said about both writing and cutting.
At 12 years old McDowell said she began cutting to cope with problems at home. McDowell journals about her family, particularly her brother, a constant source of pain, she said.
"My brother is crazy. I mean, he's really bad bipolar," McDowell wrote in a Feb. 5 entry. "He threatens to beat us all up regularly when things don't go his way, beats and throws our two dogs around. When he was little, he was unnaturally violent towards animals and on video games. Now, he's big enough to act out his fantasies, and that scares me."
McDowell writes not only about her brother's terrifying behavior, but also about her responses to other difficulties at school and home.
McDowell said she remembers several times when she wanted to kill herself because of the stresses of her life.
"One morning, I just got really upset and took a bottle of pills," McDowell said. "I took them because, in my mind (I thought) 'I will be dead before school, I won't have to worry about it.' By the time second period started, I could hear my heart pounding. I wasn't in the same state of mind I was that morning. I was, like, 'I might really die.'"
She said all of these problems escalated when she found out she was pregnant.
"It didn't actually sink (in) at first," she said. "I panicked. I did everything in the world to prove this test was wrong."
After numerous pregnancy tests and visits to the doctor, McDowell said she finally believed the two pink lines that appeared over and over.
"I feel sick. Absolutely sick," she wrote in her journal on March 4. "Not morning sickness sick, but a timorous sick. What do I do? Do I go ahead and kill myself, knowing that I'd be taking someone with me that doesn't get a say? I'm not supposed to be pregnant."
McDowell said it took a while for her to come to terms with her pregnancy.
"It was actually seven or eight months that I was pregnant that I finally decided, 'Ok, you're going to have to get ready to be a mom,'" McDowell said.
While students at her high school were curious about her pregnancy, McDowell said she was surprised at how supportive her school and family were.
McDowell gave birth to her son Benjamin on Oct. 7, 2008, just four days before her eighteenth birthday.
In her novel, McDowell takes the reader through each day and examines every aspect around her, from Halloween and the presidential election to the ice storm and her days taking care of Benjamin.
"Benjamin threw up everywhere earlier," McDowell wrote on Oct. 23. "Not spit up, I mean puked. He made pretty good distance."
She said these journal entries were included in the book to describe life after pregnancy.
McDowell explained her struggles after Benjamin's birth.
"All my friends and family thought, 'This baby will be so good for her, maybe she won't (cut) anymore," McDowell said. "That didn't happen. I was so worried about how everything was going to work, the baby didn't help. The fighting didn't stop and then I had the baby to take care of—it all happened at once."
McDowell said it was a friend from school who ultimately helped her turn her life around and quit cutting in April.
"He was encouraging," McDowell said. "He had said things other people … told me, but there was something special about him. He was a Christian and I knew he was. He was the one who really got me to stop."
McDowell said this friend helped her publish "Where My Ink Comes From."
She said it was challenging to self-publish while raising her son.
"Sometimes I would have Benjamin in my lap and I would hold the bottle with my right hand and type with my left," McDowell said.
Though difficult, she said she received assistance from Create Space, an online publisher that prints books on-demand and sells them internationally.
In June, McDowell's book began selling. More than 160 copies have sold through Create Space and Amazon.com.
It wasn't until August that Donna Witherspoon, trade book merchandiser at the University Bookstore, met McDowell.
"In the process of Jessie getting her (textbooks), she said, 'I have a book I've written.' I was totally blown away," Witherspoon said.
Witherspoon, who is in charge of signings at the bookstore, encouraged McDowell to do a signing, which was Thursday.
"She opens up her life for everyone to see," Witherspoon said. "It's enlightening to have her as a role model for anyone who has had emotional problems in their life. Her book says 'I've made it, and so can you.' It's really nice to know that there's people who have similar problems as you and who's survived them."
McDowell said she was nervous for the signing on Thursday because of a comment she heard.
"Someone said, 'I hope you sign your pen name and not your real name,'" McDowell said.
Choosing the pen name C. N. King, McDowell's name is not part of her novel. McDowell said she also has plans for another novel since she felt she may have left the reader wondering what happened when she got to college.
"I think I might do it as a series of letters to my son," McDowell said.
While Witherspoon and McDowell are both hopeful that "Where My Ink Comes From" will be chosen for the Freshman Reading Experience book for fall 2011, both say everyone can benefit from reading the book.
"I chose to go on with the self-injury for so long it was hard it stop it," McDowell said. "It's still hard, but maybe they can get my experience and stop that early on before it gets worse. I hope they take something from it."
Contact Phelps at robinj.phelps@murraystate.edu.

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Halle Berry And Padma Lakshmi Dare To Bare (PHOTOS) - Huffingtonpost.com

Posted: 15 Oct 2009 08:37 PM PDT

Halle Berry further dispelled pregnancy rumors Thursday night in a black cutaway dress, while Padma Lakshmi proudly showed off her burgeoning baby bump at the same event in New York City.

The beauties both attended the Keep A Child Alive Annual Black Ball.

Berry attended with her toddler Nahla's father Gabriel Aubry. Still no word who the father of Padma's baby is.

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