Legal Action

[[br...]]

First off, I apologize if I'm not allowed to bring up this subject on this site.  I was just wondering if anyone has taken any kind of legal action against those responsible for the distribution of benzos....doctors, pharmaceutical companies, the FDA.....or filed complaints with any governmental authority, agency or association.....Attorney General, American Medical Association, etc?  and if so, what was the outcome? 

 

I have been thinking for along time about doing this......it won't miraculously make me better or take away my suffering but I think there needs to be some activism and this issue needs to be brought to the forefront of public awareness and governmental controls limiting or even banning the distribution of benzos.

 

Blessings,

 

Brunette 

[[ho...]]

Well I for one am tuning in to see who responds to your post. I dont have anything to offer you personally but Im definately behind ya and waiting to see...😎

[[be...]]

I call the FDA every month about the dangers of benzos and they reply, fill out a complaint form. I must have filled out a whole lot of them, but they said unless they get a ton of complaints, they won't take any action. Now that Callif is head of the FDA, I don't think there is any hope on that score. But there is a class action lawsuit against Lilly for Cymbalta. If they win, that will be a very good start.

 

Bets

[[br...]]

Pretty much no one knows about us common folk suffering ....but over the years, there have been countless stories in the media about celebrities battling problems with these kinds of drugs....and in many cases, death....but it just lasts a moment in the spotlight and then is swept under the rug and forgotten. Sometimes I think if powerful people like those can't get the point across, how will I.....but I want our stories to be known.......saying nothing, gets you nothing......at least if I scream as loud as I can, maybe someone will finally listen. 

 

I am so disgusted at the lack of humanity and the fact that the "fat cats" are interested in nothing more than making money at the expense of unsuspecting patients.....they want people to get hooked on these medications so they can keep making a fast buck......they don't care at all about how many people are severely damaged or die.....they don't care about the suffering people have to go through b/c of the aftermath left behind by these drugs and the horrendous w/d x/s that can last for years and  years and years and I believe, in some cases, for the rest of a person's life.  I also believe that even if you manage to heal, your health has forever been compromised in a way that it otherwise wouldn't have been.  Ugh, I am so angry !!!!! :tickedoff: :tickedoff:

[[ho...]]

Well, there is that saying....the squeeky wheel gets the oil......dont get me wrong...I totally hear ya and get where your coming from. I just dont know what else we can do at this point. I read the benzos in the news board here and people are affecting positive change, but it moves slowly....but try poking around there and ya might find the cause you can get behind proactively...😉

[[br...]]

Benzogirl,

 

Are the complaint forms available online or do you have to call the FDA to get one?  Maybe I'm asking too much but I want retribution for the suffering this crap has caused me and others and to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

[[an...]]

I will promise right now to fill this out. We have to do something. I have been an advocate my entire life and am just so dissapointed that literally hundreds of thousands of people have gone through what we have and I have never even heard of it? It's unacceptable honestly that more of us don't make an effort to protect other human beings in whatever way we can!

 

I plan on writing a long blog to share with the community I advocate for too.

 

Here's how to fill out the complaint with FDA: http://www.fda.gov/Safety/MedWatch/default.htm

 

Also, I woud suggest we all go "Rate / review" the drug we were on here: www.drugs.com Click on your drug's name, then clock on "more" and you'll see "user reviews." I'm giving them a zero and writing about the withdrawl. Here's an example: http://www.drugs.com/comments/lorazepam/?sort=rating&order=desc&sort_reviews=lowest_rating

[[br...]]

Ang1111,

 

Wow, thanks so much for the info....I will definitely go to those links and file my complaint.  Can the complaint forms only be filled out by those of us who were prescribed a benzo and are suffering or can friends, family, and anyone who knows of the suffering a benzo caused us file a complaint as well attesting to what they witnessed happened to us b/c of this drug? 

 

I also want to "out" the doctors in my local area that I know are freely prescribing these drugs.  It was only after this whole benzo nightmare started that I found out from my nephew and his wife who used to run with the drug crowd that the dr. who prescribed Lorazepam to me is also known as the "go to" dr. in our area for drug dealers and those drug addicted b/c he will prescribe whatever they want.  He had been my family dr. for over 20 years and I had no idea he had that reputation.  When he prescribed the Lorazepam to me, he actually told me it was no different than taking a Vitamin.  I was raised in a generation where we were taught that you trust your dr., you trust a policeman, you trust a firefighter, you trust a teacher......so it never dawned on me to question him. 

 

A friend of mine has a daughter who works at the office of another local dr. and she has told me repeatedly that that dr. SWEARS BY benzos and prescribes them widely to people in my area for all kinds of reasons.  I told her that's just sick and many of those unsuspecting patients are going to end up in the same suffering I'm in.

 

In a discussion with my current dr, she said. "where's the patient's responsibility?"....and I said, "why am I paying a dr., if I have to research this stuff myself anyway?  Isn't that your job?  Isn't it your job to provide proper care to your patients and provide them with accurate information as to the side effects, drug interactions, addictive nature, precautions, etc. of any medication you prescribe?"  I could see she was visibly p.o.'d but trying not to show it and said, "we could go back and forth all day" and she immediately changed the subject.

[[ho...]]

Ohhh...ang1111....thank you for the linqs....truly amazing what we can accomplish when we join together!! 😉

[[ho...]]

Also, I was just saying how reckless at best it is for a physician to "practice" medicine with or without knowing the complications of medications they prescribe. Also it is in-exuseable to not take responsibility for a patients successes or failures in therapies....i too am more than disgusted by it all!!! Glorified pushers is what they are becoming. Its an outrage!

[[an...]]

brunette- in your case I hope someone chimes in about a specific doctor. My first instinct to reading your post was to do a local news story on that doctor and your experience. Maybe with your face and voice hidden?

 

But, I've been on TV a few times so this is usually my knee jerk response to local injustice.

 

Another option might be to find the state medical license office and file a complaint against that specific doctor.

 

There are ways, just have to be brave and creative.

 

They have taken a lot from us. For me, I don't have much to lose. I won't be able to shut up about this once I'm a little more healed. As you can see by my sig, i'm pretty early in recovery from this.

[[br...]]

Ang,

 

At this point, there is little more I can do other than try to file complaints........I'm getting ahead of myself.....I'm 24 months benzo free but am so severely ill that I physically am unable to get about.....so a lot of this is what I hope to be able to do at some point.  This benzo nightmare has destroyed my body so severely.....I am in constant pain and the weakness, fatigue and exhaustion is so overwhelming that I cannot function through a normal day......not to mention the thousands of other horrendous x/s I am experiencing and just continuing to get sicker and sicker.  In 2013, I was forced to retire early from my job b/c the sickness and suffering I am is so unbearable I cannot work.  Every day I hope that this will be the day I start to feel better but it's not happening....the exact opposite is happening.....I keep getting sicker and weaker with more and more difficulty trying to move about.  I worry that I was pumped full of so much Lorazepam that my body recognized it as an element necessary for life like water or oxygen and now that I'm off of it, that it will eventually lead to death.....b/c that's exactly what it feels like.....and that fuels my outrage.

[[an...]]

I know this might be a sensitive question but what are you doing everyday to help your body heal? Are you being proactive?

[[br...]]

Ang,

 

I push myself to do household chores and try to do yard work like mowing the lawn.....make short trips to the grocery store, etc....but the fatigue, weakness and exhaustion, shortness of breath and the excruciating pain in my neck, spine and tailbone that feels like a toothache also causes weakness in my legs causing me to have to rest every few minutes.  I also still get that awful sensation in my arms, across the top of my chest and down my spine that feels like bees buzzing and numbness at the same time.  Recently, I've also had burning pins and needles pain in my back.  I've been to tons of drs. and had extensive medical testing done and so far nothing has shown up that would explain all this ......except the benzo poison I was pumped full of for two years.  Prior to the benzo being prescribed, I was healthy, went to the gym to workout six days a week, ran two miles twice a week, went to work, went shopping, hung out with friends....I was very active and not sick before I was prescribed a benzo.