'Disposable Heroes': Veterans Used To Test Suicide-Linked Drugs

[one...two...tree 2,762]

An ABC News and Washington Times Investigation Reveals Vets Are Being Recruited for Government Tests on Drugs with Violent Side Effects

By BRIAN ROSS and VIC WALTER

Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and The Washington Times has found.

The report will air on Good Morning America and will also appear in The Washington Times on Tuesday. (click here to read the Washington Times coverage of "Disposable Heroes")

In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior.

"Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration.

Elliott, 38, of suburban Washington, D.C., was recruited, at $30 a month, for the Chantix anti-smoking study three years after being diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He served a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq from 2003-2004.

Months after he began taking the drug, Elliott suffered a mental breakdown, experiencing a relapse of Iraq combat nightmares he blames on Chantix.

"They never told me that I was going to be suicidal, that I would cease sleeping. They never told me anything except this will help me quit smoking," Elliott told ABC News and The Washington Times.

On the night of February 5th, after consuming a few beers, Elliott says he "snapped" and left his home with a loaded gun.

His fiancee, Tammy, called police and warned, "He's extremely unstable. He has PTSD."

"Do you think that he is going to shoot or attack the police?" the 911 dispatcher asked.

"I can't be certain. I don't know," she said. (click here to hear part of Tammy's 911 call)

"He was operating as if he was back in theater, in combat theater," she told ABC News. "And of course, a soldier goes nowhere without a gun."

When police arrived, they found Elliott in the street, with the gun in the front pocket of his hooded sweatshirt.

"Are you going to shoot me? Shoot me," Elliott said, according to the police report. (click here to see the police report)

Police used a Taser gun to stun Elliott and placed him under arrest.

It wasn't until three weeks later that the Veterans Administration advised the veterans in the Chantix study that the drug may cause serious side effects, including "anxiety, nervousness, tension, depression, thoughts of suicide, and attempted and completed suicide."

The VA's letter to the veterans, on February 29, 2008, followed three warnings from the FDA and Chantix' maker Pfizer, that were issued on November 20, 2007, January 18, 2008 and February 1, 2008. (click here to read the FDA warning and click here to read Pfizer's statement on Chantix)

"How this study continued in the face of these difficulties is almost impossible to understand," said Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Doctors at the Veterans Administration say they acted as quickly as they could.

"This didn't justify an emergency warning at that level," said Dr. Miles McFall, co-administrator of the VA study.

Dr. McFall said there is no proof that Elliott's breakdown was caused by Chantix and he sees no reason to discontinue the study. Some 140 veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder continue to receive Chantix as part of a smoking cessation study.

Dr. McFall says the VA decided to continue the Chantix study because "it would be depriving our veterans of an effective method of treatment to help them stop smoking."

Caplan, one of the country's leading medical ethicists, said he was stunned by the VA's decision to continue the Chantix experiment.

"Why take the group most a risk and keep them going? That doesn't make any sense, once you know the risk is there," he said.

Chantix is one of the drugs being used in an estimated 25 clinical studies using veterans by the VA.

Pfizer maintains that "the benefits of Chantix outweigh the risks" and that it continues to do further studies on the drug.

The FAA has prohibited commercial airline pilots from using Chantix because of its possible side effects.

http://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5180437

[Jenn! 918]

Wasn't this a Denzel Washington movie?

[morocco4ever 63]

Is this how they show their respect to our Veterans?

[alienlovechild 75]

On the night of February 5th, after consuming a few beers, Elliott says he "snapped" and left his home with a loaded gun.

Did his the doctors also prescribe he get drunk and own a gun? We all know those couldn't cause problems, right?

[GaryC 7]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

[Teacher Mark 53]

This Country needs an enema.

[alienlovechild 75]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

Do feel the urge get drunk, grab a gun and get tasered by the cops?

Or

Feel the urge to turn on your computer, grab your mouse and let loose on liberals?

[GaryC 7]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

Do feel the urge get drunk, grab a gun and get tasered by the cops?

Or

Feel the urge to turn on your computer, grab your mouse and let loose on liberals?

To the first one, never.

To the second one, always. Long before I started taking Chantix though.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

link to video.

[HAL 9000 96]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

Do feel the urge get drunk, grab a gun and get tasered by the cops?

Or

Feel the urge to turn on your computer, grab your mouse and let loose on liberals?

To the first one, never.

To the second one, always. Long before I started taking Chantix though.

Free fMRI to assess mental health issues.

Oh, right... you don't want nationalized medicine so you have to pay.

[Fandango 1,439]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

Do feel the urge get drunk, grab a gun and get tasered by the cops?

Or

Feel the urge to turn on your computer, grab your mouse and let loose on liberals?

To the first one, never.

To the second one, always. Long before I started taking Chantix though.

Gary, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but didn't you take a stop smoking drug that made your mood change?

[Ban Hammer 13,352]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

Do feel the urge get drunk, grab a gun and get tasered by the cops?

Or

Feel the urge to turn on your computer, grab your mouse and let loose on liberals?

To the first one, never.

To the second one, always. Long before I started taking Chantix though.

Gary, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but didn't you take a stop smoking drug that made your mood change?

wellbutrin, if i recall correctly.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

Nice spin there. We'll see as the facts unfold, but if the FDA's warning came out prior to the VA prescribing Chantix to soldiers suffering from PTSD without telling them about the FDA warning, they're in a heat of trouble.

...this part I find especially disturbing:

Dr. McFall says the VA decided to continue the Chantix study because "it would be depriving our veterans of an effective method of treatment to help them stop smoking."

#######? Can you imagine going to your doctor and he puts you on a prescription drug that the FDA has given a warning of potential side effects, and your doctor doesn't bother to tell you about the potential risks?

[HAL 9000 96]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

Do feel the urge get drunk, grab a gun and get tasered by the cops?

Or

Feel the urge to turn on your computer, grab your mouse and let loose on liberals?

To the first one, never.

To the second one, always. Long before I started taking Chantix though.

Gary, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but didn't you take a stop smoking drug that made your mood change?

wellbutrin, if i recall correctly.

I have a patient data sheet here from one of our tissue procurements that states... wellbutrin OD as cause of death. Scary.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Chantix is a commonly perscribed stop smoking drug. One that I have been taking for months. This is an overblown story manufactured to make headlines. All drugs have side effects.

From what I understand they weren't talking about just this one drug (although that was used in reference to the example of the guy who had the mental breakdown - and the FDA I believe has issued several warnings regarding the use of Chantix, linking it to possible pyschiatric problems).

There's also an ethics angle here - specifically whether its ethical to target people who are returning to active warzones for these kind of testing programs. Granted the program is voluntary but is it ethical to offer that sort of thing to people with psychiatric problems like PTSD who aren't exactly in the best position to know how these drugs may affect them?