Please help (follow up on Tom Cruise)

[Curtis]

First, please go here so you know what I am talking about:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3942366&mesg_id=3944044

Secondly, here's my problem I want help with. I would argue that that list of meds (especially since I was taking some meds to counteract the side effects of another med) were what has been keeping me sick all these years. All of my health problems are now gone since I quit the meds and all of the work I've had done like angio-gram, the butt-scope (can't remember the real name) and more were all related to side effects from the list of meds I've been on.

So, my question is this. Is it worth going to a lawyer and try to sue the med companies for the following:
1. Pay back the US government all the social security I've received in the last 10 years.
2. Pay back the state of Calif for all the SSI I've received over the last 10 years.
3. Pay back Medicare and MediCal for all the costs of prescriptions and other medical costs associated with the side effects from the medications
4. Recover potential lost wages (nothing to get right mind you)

I seriously doubt I experienced some type of miracle and I was cured over night by some sort of divine intervention. So, I must say I am wondering is I am pretty damn pissed off that 10 years of my life were tossed out the window PERHAPS because I believed the medications were supposed to be helping me only to find out now that the meds were keeping me sick. The pain meds were especially keeping me sick not only with side effects but by maintaining my level of pain. Now that I am off the meds, I have absolutely NO PAIN what-so-ever, and I'm not the only person I've heard of who has gone through this type of thing with pain meds.

Heck, I'd even be happy if I didn't recover any potential lost wages and just the gov got back their money.

So, should I seek out legal counsel on this?

[ananda]

1. Psychotropes are bad.

Cruise is right. Psychotropic meds are very bad, even dangerous.

Sue

[jobycom]

2. Wouldn't hurt to seek legal advice. Here's another idea

Try writing a book about your experiences. Since it would be non-fiction, you could write up a book proposal and send it to a few agents, or publishers, to see if anyone is interested. You could write a short article on it, also. If you got the article published, there'd be interest in the book.

It would take less time than a lawsuit, and you might influence more people. You'll have to be careful not to make claims you can't support, though, or you'd be on the other end of the lawsuit.

Just a thought. I know it's a lot of work, but a lawsuit would be, too. Everyone you are talking of suing will have a ton of money to spend on lawyers.

[Curtis]

4. That's a good idea

I also wrote Keith Oberman and offered to go on his show myself to tell my stroy

[jobycom]

6. That's good, but you'd need something else to make you noteworthy

Or else most MSM won't be interested in you. Published articles, or even a sophisticated web page, especially if you can do a lot of research and post science to back you up, will help.

Be prepared for threatening letters from pharm companies, though. Read the book "Into the Buzzsaw." It's a collection of essays from journalists who have run into the conservative corporate machine when trying to publish stories. They make a lot of money by keeping people like you silent, and i don't like the godfather. They silence you through courts, through threats to publishers and networks that would interview you, etc.

Frankly, sounds like fun, doesn't it? Take 'em on!

[Curtis]

7. Perhaps once I make it back into the political life

I used to have, they'll be a bit more interested ;)

[Eloriel]

3. I most certainly would if I were you

You don't just need legal counsel, you need some firm that specializes in medical malpractice and such. No reason not to check it out.

[Fridays Child]

5. I can't see winning a suit against the pharmaceutical companies.

They would be well-shielded from responsibility because they neither diagnosed your condition nor prescribed any medications for it. I understand why you hold them accountable, though. The amount of money they spend to influence patients and doctors staggers the imagination.

But it's the doctors who need to put the brakes on our national obsession with medications. Doctors must stop relying so heavily on pharmaceuticals and start being the investigators they were trained to be. They need to treat causes not just symptoms.

If doctors were doing their jobs properly, they would be treating us with exercise and dietary regimes. We would all be running, walking, biking, or swimming at least three times each week. Our diets would be plant-based and only supplemented by meat, not meat-based and only supplemented by plants. And we would stop consuming hydrogenated fats, corn syrup, MSG, artificial sweeteners, etc.--which means that we would be eating only fresh or frozen foods.