Army Report Blames Skyrocketing Soldier Suicides On Drug And Alcohol Abuse, Lax Oversight

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Posted on 29th July 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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In the case of the U.S. military, tragically the enemy is often ourselves, according to an Army report released Thursday. 

http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/07/28/42934-army-health-promotion-risk-reduction-and-suicide-prevention-report/index.html

The startling report found that increased drug and alcohol abuse among soldiers is contributing to a skyrocketing suicide rate for service members, as well as leading to accidental deaths caused by risky behavior by the drunk and stoned.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/army-report-finds-alarming-rise-in-suicides-risky-behavior/19573590

In fact, the report says that more soldiers die from their own actions rather than being killed by the enemy in combat.

“Simply stated, we are often more dangerous to ourselves than the enemy,” according to the Health Promotion, Risk Reduction and Suicide Prevention Report.

The report found that during the last fiscal year, 239 soldiers committed suicide, with more than 1,700 attempting to take their lives during that same period.  So-called high-risk behavior, like drinking and drug abuse, are contributing to the increased suicide numbers. 

But the report also said that a breakdown in leadership, in oversight over soldiers, can also be blamed for the deaths.

The report is based on a 15-month study, prompted by the rise in soldier suicides. At one time, the military had a lower suicide rate than the overall U.S. population. But that trend started to change in 2004, according to the report, and in 2008 the Army’s suicide rate was higher than Americans overall.

I have written about the mental and physical impact of repeated deployments of our troops in Iraq and Afganistan. I have written  how the military seems to be putting its head in the sand about the brain injury that these soldiers sustain, by not doing the mandated testing when soldiers have completed their tours.

Brain injury, mild or severe, often leads to depression. And clinical depression, if not treated properly, often leads to self-medication, with illegal drugs or alchohol. And clinical depression can lead to suicide. That is part of the big picture here.

Ike Skelton, D-Mo., is chairman of the House Armed Service Committee. He issued a statement about the Army’s report — or should be.

“It’s clear that the Army feels the same heartache that all Americans feel when even one service member takes his or her life, and the Army deserves praise for its honest and comprehensive study on suicide prevention,” Skelton said.

The military had its own comment, from Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey, in its press release on the report.

http://www.defense.gov/releases/release.aspx?releaseid=13756

“This comprehensive review exposes gaps in how we identify, engage and mitigate high-risk behavior among our soldiers,” Casey said. “After nearly a decade of war, we must keep pace with the expanding needs of our strained Army, and continuously identify and address the gaps that exist in our policies, programs and services.”

Now let’s see what the Army does about it.

        

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.

Columbia University Stops Brain Research Over Tainted Injections

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Posted on 20th July 2010 by gjohnson in Uncategorized

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It’s a pretty shocking situation. Respected Columbia University shut down research at its brain-imaging center after federal investigators discovered that the nationally renowned facility had given patients drugs with dangerous impurities. 

The New York Times did a Page One story Saturday on the Food and Drug Administration’s investigation of Columbia’s Kreitchman PET Center, which is on West 168th Street in Manhattan. This center over the years has received millions of dollars from the federal government and drug companies to conduct research on the effects of drugs and brain disorders.   

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/17/health/17columbia.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=FDA%20and%20Columbia%20University%20&st=cse

The center, according to The Times, is regarded as the leader in the use of positron emission tomography, or PET, for psychiatric research. 

 In a nutshell, the FDA found that the radiotracers used in PET, which the center has been producing for its own use, had impurity levels above and beyond what the agency permits.   

During exams radiotracers are injected into patients. The radiotracers build up in the parts of the body that are being studied — in the brain for psychiatric research – and release low-level radiation that researchers can detect. 

The FDA has standards for the radiation levels the purity and purity levels of radiotracers, but the ones that Columbia’s center was injecting into patients didn’t meet those standards.

And the purity levels of radiotracers are particularly important and sensitive in psychiatric research, because the drug can remain active in the brain and change a patient’s moods and behavior. That’s a particularly risky proposition when you’re dealing with people with depression and mental illness.

 The FDA has conducted several investigations of the Kreitchman Center, and repeatedly found that the facility was in violation of federal guidelines over a four-year span, according to The Times. In its most recent probe, which was in January, the FDA cited the center for six types of violations.

 In that investigation, the FDA said that since 2007 at least 10 batches of drugs with high levels of impurities that permitted had been injected into human subjects, The Times said. And in at least four cases, the impurity levels were twice what are permitted.

In the face of  those citations regarding its PET center, Columbia halted research as the facility.

Why would a respected research center inject their subjects with impure drugs? Ex-workers at the center explained that the lab “was under such pressure to produce studies that it papered over and hid impurities in drugs to stretch its resources and went ahead with business as usual despite FDA warnings,” The Times reported.

Columbia conducted its own  audit of its PET center, and decided that the FDA charges had enough substance to warrant an internal investigation. And the university added that so far, it hasn’t found any evidende that patients were harmed.

Attorney Gordon Johnson
Past Chair Traumatic Brain Injury Litigation Group, American Association of Justice
g@gordonjohnson.com :: 800-992-9447 :: Attorney Gordon S. Johnson, Jr.