Internet Prescription Leads To Wrongful Death, Texas Lawsuit

Nineteen year-old John McKay's shocking suicide last summer prompted his parents to sue the operators of a Web site where, according to the suit, the boy obtained generic Prozac without submitting a prescription. The parents allege that, without their knowledge, McKay visited a Texas-based online pharmacy and submitted a questionnaire. According to the suit, a Colorado doctor reviewed the boy's questionnaire and wrote a prescription for fluoxetine, the generic version of Prozac, without seeing or talking to the boy. McKay's parents say they later discovered that the physician had a restricted license and was not allowed to write prescriptions.

The prescription was then allegedly filled by a Mississippi pharmacy, which shipped the medication to McKay's home in California. Seven weeks later, McKay committed suicide. Prozac and other anti-depressants have been linked to an increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior in children and adolescents with major depressive disorders and are currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

His parents are suing the pharmacies and the doctor for wrongful death and negligence; they are not suing the drug manufacturer. "I think John would still be alive if he hadn't been able to get these pills. He didn't realize the risks. They didn't inform him of the risks. I'd like to see these people held responsible." McKay's parents filed the suit last month in federal court in San Francisco.

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