EPISODE 11: HEATHER MCCARTHY
[Andy Miles] Hello and welcome to Akathisia Stories, a podcast co-production of MISSD and Chicago's Studio C.
MISSD, the Medication-Induced Suicide Prevention and Education Foundation in Memory of Stewart Dolin, is a unique nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the memory of Stewart and other victims of akathisia by raising awareness and educating the public about the dangers of akathisia. MISSD aims to ensure that people suffering from akathisia's symptoms are accurately diagnosed so that needless deaths are prevented. The foundation advocates truth in disclosure, honesty in reporting, and legitimate drug trials.
In this episode we hear from Heather McCarthy, mother of O'Shea McCarthy, known as Shea, who was born in December of 1988.
His love of art and music was apparent from an early age, and by the time he reached adolescence, he had become proficient in a variety of instruments and was the recipient of numerous art awards. Shea excelled in his studies throughout his K through 12 education, especially in his love of nature and science. Upon graduation from high school, he was admitted to Purdue University where he was accepted in the Earth and Atmospheric Science Program. Prior to undergoing corrective surgery for a deviated septum the summer before his sophomore year, Shea was prescribed an extremely large dose of the antibiotic Levaquin. After a three-week course of this veritable atomic bomb of antibiotics, Shea's life would never be the same. Heather remembers that her son became a shadow of the intelligent, curious, beautiful young man he was as he was suddenly struggling with anxiety, cardiac issues, insomnia, and a host of other adverse effects caused by Levaquin. Despite telling his treatment providers that he believed his condition was the result of an adverse effect of Levaquin, they chose a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and subsequently prescribed a host of psychotropic drugs that included Risperdal, Lamictal and Ativan.
[Heather McCarthy] I think these drugs are so insidious on how they affect your spirit and your mind and, my belief, your soul, because it’s such a slow walk. It’s such a slow chipping away at who he was. And his anxiety was all the time. He, you know, was twitching a lot and he had so much anxiety. And I think he just got tired. And how degrading it is to not be listened to and to not be believed. I mean, we have medical records that says, “I’m afraid,” he’s telling his therapist, “I’m afraid I’m going to crash my car." In hindsight, it’s just this ridiculous, to me, belief that he was — you know, he’s going, he’s getting the treatment, he’s going to get better. Like, this is going to pass. This is a brilliant young man. You know? Like, this is going to pass.
We'll have Heather and Shea's full story in a moment.
We are grateful that you listen to our podcast and hope you’ll share it with others to save lives and reduce avoidable suffering. Due to continued COVID challenges, MISSD is again holding its annual fundraiser online and via mail. Please consider supporting the “Akathisia Stories” podcast series and other MISSD programming by making a tax-deductible contribution at MISSD.co; that's M-I-S-S-D dot C-O. The MISSD mission can also be supported at no additional cost when shopping online through Amazon Smile.
[Studio C promotion]
Heather McCarthy is an attorney from Northwest Indiana who holds advanced degrees in public administration and English lit. Prior to establishing a private law practice, she was an executive in the mental health industry. She served in the role of vice president at the administrative services organization for Regional Mental Health Center, the facility that treated her son, O’Shea. After his death, Heather pursued an eight-year legal case alleging medical malpractice of the mental health treatment providers in the wrongful death of her son. She also testified, with numerous other victims, at the 2015 FDA hearings that resulted in additional black box warnings for the antibiotic Levaquin and the acknowledgment of a disability, Fluoroquinolone Associated Disability, of which symptoms include cardiac issues, insomnia, restlessness, and psychosis, some of which can be permanent. Heather also supports the efforts of MISSD in creating awareness about akathisia, a condition that was fatal for Shea after receiving mental health treatment.
In this episode we'll hear two interviews that I conducted with Heather, the first of which we recorded in late 2019, following the MISSD organization's silent auction in Chicago. At that time Heather's lawsuit was in progress and she was not permitted to make mention of it. Later, we'll hear an interview recorded just last month, following resolution of that litigation. In our 2019 interview, Heather started off by talking about the person her son was.
HM: He was extremely creative and very, very bright. He was very much an individual and extremely confident — not arrogant, but confident in the ability of his mind. He was just very, very determined, and I think that’s — it’s a rare and a beautiful thing when you have someone who has the kind of intellectual capabilities and also the creative side. And to give you an example of that, as a young kid, he loved science. He was obsessed with science and the Periodic Table and chemicals and anything to do with science and nature. I think he had like every National Geographic book that they made, those little leather-bound books — (laughs) — that tell you, you know, everything about different — whether it was botany or just really — that type of stuff just fascinated him. But he also had such a talent for music and for art. I have so many pieces of art throughout my whole house, huge canvasses that he did. He liked — Basquiat was one of his favorites. You could see a lot of that. There’s a lot of writing in his paintings, and Shea had a great sense of humor.
After he passed away, we did an event to showcase all his music and his art, and all his friends came and it was just really amazing to see it all in one room and to see the reactions of people looking at it, because it’s just very clever. And it was just a real bittersweet moment that he couldn’t see because they were things that he never expected any praise or — he just did it because that’s who he was. But I would say 90 percent of the hours of the day, it was music. I mean, you rarely saw Shea without his headphones on. He was always listening to something, and he was really obsessed with sound. I have some of his last emails where he writes out his theories of sound and music and the perfect sound from an orchestra hall to whatever context. They’re just really beautiful, which is so amazing to me because I know how much he was struggling at the end, and I think the only time that there was — he was able to regain at the end a piece of himself was through either creating music or listening to it.
AM: So how would you describe the relationship that you had with him and also the relationship that he had with his younger brother?
HM: Well, I mean, growing up we were very close because it was just the three of us. And Shea was always very independent and so was his brother. But there was just a closeness and a respect there. You know, both of my sons had a little quirkiness about them, in a good way. And I think, you know, we were very different. I was very, very young when I had him, so we almost grew up — you know, it’s almost like a sibling-type relationship.
AM: Yeah. And what can you tell me about the sort of backstory, the events that led to tragedy in your family?
HM: Yeah. So Shea, when he was home his freshman year, he came home for summer break from Purdue, and his whole life he always just had, like, sinus issues; he was always sniffling and stuff, and so he wanted to get it fixed. So we brought him up to the city and he was, you know, going to have the procedure done to just clear his nasal passage. So we saw the doctor and about — I think he probably started taking — they prescribed him, as a prophylactic or, like, as a preventative, to take antibiotics before he had the surgery, just to make sure for infection. What he was given is called Levaquin. It’s a fluoroquinolone.
AM: And can you define fluoroquinolone?
HM: Fluoroquinolones are a class of antibiotics: Cipro, and then Levaquin is also one. They’re very, very strong antibiotics. So how certain experts in the field have described it to me, like, it was common and it still is, although there’s been several warnings and black box labelings now where hopefully it’s not as common as it was, and how it was described is, you know, using a cannonball to shoot a mosquito. It’s just insane. But they were very popular and doctors were just giving them out.
So what they gave Shea, it was 750 milligrams a day, and they actually gave him two 21-day supply of it. So we know he took it about 20 days. I knew something was wrong initially when he took it, but I didn’t know if it was fear, because he never really had any health issues or surgeries, but he was just so out of it; he had been taking it for like a week when I took him for the surgery. We came up here to have it and he was just really out of it. And when we left the office, he was not himself. And he got home and he continued to take it, but he started to look up the drug on the Internet, because he’s like, “Something’s not right; I feel really funny.” And he told his best friend that he really thought that this drug was messing with his mind, like something is just not right.
He went back to Purdue and he started having like what he described as panic attacks: shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat. Now, my son was very — he knew what was wrong and he researched it and he connected it. He was online and he thought, you know, I really think this is the drug. You know, the first semester he’s having these panic attacks, which was weird. I’m telling him, go to the health center. He’s telling them all, in all the records, you know, Levaquin. By the spring semester, he’s having horrible insomnia and depression. You know, he came home and we talked to — you know, I took him to the doctor. We went to one doctor who just wanted to prescribe like a Xanax, like a benzodiazepine. We went to another doctor who we felt more comfortable with, suggested like an antidepressant like Zoloft. So he took that for a while. I mean, he just wanted to get better. He just wanted to get better. And he came home that summer; by the next semester, he had just started isolating himself so bad. He went back to school, but he was just having really hard time to be in public, which was just so unlike him. He was just such a confident young man. And he — by Thanksgiving he dropped out of school and came home, and he just would not leave his room.
You know, now in hindsight, to look at this, it’s so clear that he was correct. Unfortunately, we didn’t pay, you know, the attention we should have to that. At that point, I thought he was having mental health issues. That’s what I thought. I wasn’t attributing it to anything. I just wanted him to get better. And, you know, at some point, I think he just — as he worsened, it just got more and more difficult to be as perhaps emphatic as he was. But he was certainly telling them, because they documented it.
This culminated — I couldn’t get him to leave his room. He was hearing voices. And he made music all the time and he wouldn’t go on the computer. He was scared, like, he wouldn’t go online; he wouldn’t go on the computer. He would just sit in his room. He wouldn’t leave. And he talked to no one anymore. And, I mean, we were just at a loss as to what to do. You asked me earlier what was our relationship like. This was just night and day from our lives before he started struggling with all these issues, because he didn’t talk to me. He didn’t talk to his brother. And there was a real just sense of frustration. I mean, we tried counseling, setting boundaries. We would see a family therapist. It was just nothing was helping to pull him out of it, and he was getting more and more isolated. And I made the fatal decision, which I will regret till the day I die, to do a commitment. He was committed for just a hold. It was a two-day hold, just so they can, you know, examine him. So he went. He was at a mental health center. They wanted to start him on some medications and he didn’t want to take any medications. It’s kind of like thinking, you know, at the time that it was some consequence of some mental health, but, in fact, it was the sanest thing in the world. He believed he had been poisoned by a medication, so why would he want to take more, you know? And even when he was admitted for this two-day hold, they had suggested medications, but he didn’t want to do it. But he said that he would — I went and picked him up and the doctor had talked to him, and they wanted to start him on a mood stabilizer. And he agreed when we left that he would try it, but at home. So he came back home and they started him on a medication called Lamotrigine or Lamictal. And they steadily increased that dose and his anxiety increased horrifically. He was getting really anxious.
When he left after the two-day hold, the doctor had decided that he had bipolar disorder. And you have to understand that during this time frame, around 2011, bipolar was very, very popular in this country. There were so many cases of bipolar; it was just off the charts. So that’s what they thought, you know, was the issue. Again, in these records, it’s still showing he’s telling them about the Levaquin. You know, it’s still in there.
So by August, his anxiety is really high, and I was at work and my parents brought him back to the emergency room in the mental health center, because he was just scared. He said he was having such horrific anxiety. Now, it’s interesting because one of the — on the package insert for Lamictal, it says, if you have anxiety report that to your doctor immediately, “increase in anxiety.” That’s exactly what he did. He went in. They talked to him. The intake person said they would call the doctor to see about maybe decreasing the Lamictal and get back to him and he could go home. So they brought him back home. I got home that evening and talked to him and he just — he didn’t look good and he was just having a lot of trouble sleeping. The next day, he started hallucinating. And he wanted to be checked in. He was very frightened. He saw bugs flying. He saw just grotesque things coming at him. He saw my father saying things to him that he wasn’t saying. And he was frightened. He’s like, “I think” — you know, “It’s making me” — like, “I’m so anxious and I think this person’s cussing at me and screaming at me,” and it was all these strange hallucinations.
So we went back the next day and he ended up checking himself in and he stayed — I believe that visit was five or six days. I think it was six days in August. And rather than — you know, like I said, in hindsight, it seems so clear, but at the time we just really — and my warning to everyone is, be careful who you trust. You want to trust doctors, but, you know, do your due diligence. Instead of taking him off that original drug that had intensified his anxiety — he was worse than he had ever been — they kept him on that and added two more drugs. So they add a benzodiazepine, which is Ativan, and Risperdal. Risperdal is — I believe it’s popular for — it’s an anti-psychotic, and people have had a lot of problems with Risperdal.
So he’s taking that, and, you know, at the end of the five days he came home. I took him — I planned a trip for us. We were going to go to Palm Springs, just me and him. And he was actually — you know, he was like, “You know, I think I’m better; that was just so frightening.” Like, actually, for a brief window there, he was doing better, like, he was coming out of it. So we thought maybe this is working. You know, maybe — and he started. He had a private counselor and this mental health center had requested — because they said they had a team approach, so if he could see one of their therapists. So he agreed to do that. And he was just — there was nothing he wanted more than to get back to who he was.
Unfortunately, the issues my son was dealing with were more the adverse reaction and the toxicity from the drug he took so that, you know, it was difficult, I think, for talk therapy. No one was addressing what really happened to him, essentially. They kept him on the same medication regimen. There was numerous back and forth with the Lamictal. They kept raising it because he would say, you know, “I’m not feeling better. I have no feelings. I have no” — you know, he was just empty. His emotions were gone.
In hindsight, it’s just this ridiculous, to me, belief that he was — you know, he’s going, he’s getting the treatment, he’s going to get better. Like, this is going to pass. This is a brilliant young man. You know? Like, this is going to pass. Unfortunately, it didn’t. He was able to go through the motions, but he could not socialize. He could not — you know, he went, started to go back to school locally, but he was in and out.
AM: Did he have an awareness during this time that he was not the person that he had been and that these effects were changing the overall — his outward demeanor and that sort of thing?
HM: Yeah. I think these drugs are so insidious on how they affect your spirit and your mind and, my belief, your soul. Like, I don’t even know if the awareness — because it’s such a slow walk. It’s such a slow chipping away at who he was. And his anxiety was all the time. He, you know, was twitching a lot and he had so much anxiety. And I think he just got tired. And how degrading it is to not be listened to and to not be believed. I mean, we have medical records that says, “I’m afraid,” he’s telling his therapist, “I’m afraid I’m going to crash my car. I’m afraid I’m going to have a panic attack in class.” Like, he’s saying these things. He’s well aware of them.
You know, when they’re not getting better, when all the clinical indications are they’re deteriorating, you got to take a different path. You can’t remain inflexible. You know? When someone’s getting worse and worse and worse, at some point you have to just set aside what you thought the problem was, set aside your ego, set aside, you know, whatever it is, and put the patient first. I mean, do no harm. That’s their oath. And when you see you’re doing harm, try something else. Is it that bizarre to actually take into account what the patient’s telling you? We’re humans talking to each other; let’s respect each other. You know, who would know better than the person ingesting the drug? You take the drug; see how you feel. You know what I mean? Maybe you should take it. Maybe you should try it.
There’s a black box warning now. If you look at that warning, it reads like his life. It reads like what happened to him from the moment he took that drug. You know, it’s just really mind-boggling to me that these doctors came up with this diagnosis in two days and, as he deteriorated over two years, stuck with it, just stuck with it with just extreme, you know, “This is what he has; he has bipolar.” He didn’t have any of the symptoms of bipolar. He didn’t have any mania; he wouldn’t leave his room. I mean, mania in that sense, for him to have energy or to be doing something would have been welcomed. I mean, that type of inflexibility is a recipe for death, you know.
AM: Yeah.
HM: In the end, he would still sometimes make his music, and that was the only time where you could look at him and see a fragment of what he was before this happened. But physically he didn’t look the same. He certainly didn’t act the same. He was, you know, just a shadow, just a complete shadow of himself. I just can’t imagine what he went through. It’s horrifying.
And finally, I mean, before his death he was down at school and he had called me to come and get him, and so I called his brother and we got him and we brought him back home. And I had been calling around to different doctors and different providers in the city so someone else could see him, but maybe something — you know, I was getting to the point — because I was a product of this kind of paradigm or belief system too. I worked in mental health. I thought all these medications help people. How could they hurt people? That’s not — you know, what is happening here? What’s happening in my son? But it just — it was really just like we’ve got to get — something’s got to change.
So on the morning of his death he had an appointment; his brother was taking him at 9:00 a.m. to see a new doctor. Unfortunately, that morning he woke up, he jumped out of a window; he broke a second story window. He jumped out of the window, broke it, drove off, and drove his car into a cement wall.
It’s just — it’s unfathomable that this could happen.
How I think about his death is there was just this complete, deliberate indifference to his safety, to his well-being, to his right to live his life. Nobody really cared. And I think that that is the hardest part to deal with, because this didn’t have to happen. He could be with us today.
AM: Yeah. So some of the symptoms or some of the reactions that you mentioned that he was experiencing at the end are familiar symptoms to people who know of the condition akathisia.
HM: Most definitely.
AM: And you’re connected to the MISSD organization, which, you know, is committed to raising awareness of akathisia. So you consider your son to have been suffering from that. When did you come to know of that term akathisia? And once you learned of it, were you persuaded from that point on that that’s what he was indeed —
HM: Yeah. After he passed away — it was a fog, but I knew something was wrong and I knew I had — I mean, we had talked. I knew his will. I knew things were bad. I knew he was suffering, as he had been for quite a while. But I knew his will to push forward. And I think part of that just came from, you know, who he was before, such a high level of confidence and such a respect and a value for his mind, more than anything else. And you know, after he passed away, it was just a slow process of going through all of his — I went and got all of his medical records and then I talked to all his friends about stuff he was telling them. You know, his best friend’s like, you know he thought it was the Levaquin all along. And I was like, yeah. I talked to experts, you know, people who were out there, who were kind enough to speak with me and meet with me and go over the records and get their impressions. And it was like this floodgate because these people I’m talking to, they have no reason to agree or disagree with me or him, but they were like, he’s right; this is right; read this book; read this book; go read all this stuff. And I’m reading it and I’m like, my god, why didn’t I do this before? Like, there was this trust — and that’s my warning to people — this trust in the medical profession that they’re infallible. (Laughs.) And that’s certainly not the case, and I don’t expect them to be, but I expect them to listen to me; I expect them to listen to my family and my kid.
Shea’s signs of this nervousness — because akathisia can be so esoteric to people, like, what does that mean? And sometimes you can’t even see it on the outside because it’s all in your head. That nervousness is in your head so someone could be suffering tremendously and you might not even be able to tell on the outside of what they’re going through internally. That is why it’s so important to listen to people, and when people feel this way or have a reaction to a drug and they tell someone that they’re feeling this way, it’s so important to listen, because you know about MISSD — what brings us all together? All of our loved ones are dead. They’re gone. You know? We don’t get a lot of stories about people who have akathisia and they’re sitting here with us. We don’t get that because no one listened to them. They’re gone. You know? And I think what Wendy Dolin is doing is just incredible. I’m so very thankful to her, because people need to listen. It sounds so simple. You know, it’s such a simple thing.
Why would someone make this up? You know? And the people I talk to they tried; you know, their family members tried. You know, there’s just no credence given to the patient. You know, and heaven forbid that a medication could be doing this, and heaven forbid the answer is not to just give them more medication; “let’s just give them more,” because in most of the cases that you hear about with akathisia, shortly before, there’s either an increase or a decrease, which is a perfect example of my son’s death. I don’t believe Levaquin killed my son. I think Levaquin caused him a lot of problems. What killed my son? A system and individuals who refused to listen to him and refused to take the time to maybe try a different course of treatment — you know? — rather than just “take more medication.” “When you think you need it, take it as needed; you’re going to be — you know, that’s going to solve this issue. You know? You’re hallucinating? Take more medication.” That’s crazy! That is just crazy. You know?
And I hope that we can start to help people — if they should have this horrific symptom that we can help them while they’re having it and not have it be the reason that people are gathering together is to, you know, honor someone who’s dead, because they should all be here with us. It’s unacceptable. It’s unnecessary. And it’s just mind-boggling to me that this is going on, because it’s not just one person; there’s so many stories and no one is telling these stories, and that’s why these podcasts are important, because when things like this happen people are shamed. I’m embarrassed. I will feel guilt the rest of my life that I did not help my son when he was alive, by taking his side and insisting that he was correct — I’ll have to live with that. But you know what? I’m not a doctor. You know? I wasn’t writing those scripts. You know? What do you do? You want to help your child. You love your child. And you’re slowly walking them to their death. And that’s my cross to bear. But something has got to change, and we cannot be shamed into being quiet. My son can’t speak anymore. He can’t tell his story. He can’t say to the world, Levaquin did this to me, Risperdal did this to me, Ativan did this to me, Lamictal did this to me. He can’t say that. I can. And I’ll say it now because it’s for the next person, because no one — no one — should have to go what my family has gone through, what Wendy’s family has gone through, with all these people who have gathered around this foundation. No one should have to go through that. And what she’s doing I believe will save many lives.
[Andy Miles] In August 2021, with Heather's long-awaited trial just a few months away, Shea's treating doctors and the mental health center made an unexpected offer to resolve the case. We'll hear about that and more in this second part of my interview with Heather, recorded just days after the lawsuit was settled.
AM: We had talked briefly in our previous interview about the litigation that you were pursuing, and at that time you were waiting for the trial date and were not able to speak about what was going on in the case. You said, though, at the time that when this episode airs, that will all be over. And now it’s over. What was the outcome of that?
HM: Well, it wasn’t quite the outcome that I expected. I had been waiting very long. You know, my son had passed away in 2013 and it’s been a very just long period of litigation, of trying to keep a case moving forward. So I did bring a case. I brought a case against the treatment providers, psychiatrists, three psychiatrists and a mental health center. So it took about two years to assemble all the people, information, to really take a close look at everything. And, you know, essentially it became very apparent right at the onset, after a lot of the medical records and items were reviewed, that everything that my son had thought was happening to him was in fact correct. This was a young man who very much wanted to live his life. This was not someone who did not want to live. And I think that’s why he, you know, carried on with this treatment for so long, and we kept telling him, just tell your doctors everything. Well, in fact, you know, he did.
So, you know, the legal process is very slow, and unfortunately, I’m from the state of Indiana; when something goes wrong as a patient, there’s many, many obstacles that are placed on either the loved ones trying to get some justice for medical malpractice or a patient wanting to do that. We have a series of hoops you have to jump through that are not only emotionally wearing, in that you’re reliving this over and over, but they’re also expensive. You know, it’s a daunting process to bring a case like this, and you better have a lot of patience and endurance because it’s going to take quite a while.
So in my case, this went on many years, but we did have a trial date. The trial was set for this October. And that was after the trial date being pushed back numerous times. And if you don’t have, you know, really quality experts, if you don’t have really good attorneys, just a lot of work in organizing the case, oftentimes they do just get dismissed. I knew in my heart and my mind and my spirit that this was – I was going to stick this out to the bitter end, no matter what; even if it was a dismissal, I needed to do it and I was just going to put my best foot forward and, you know, see what the outcome was going to be. And I felt confident we would get a trial, which we did. But you know, a lot of times it’s just to wear people down. It’s just very difficult. But it’s important. You know? It’s important. I wouldn’t ask anyone to do this knowing what I know now, but I feel like it probably will be one of the most important things that I’ve done in my life. It’s taken pretty much everything I have, you know, emotionally, financially, but I’m glad that that pursued.
But having said that, you know, the purpose of this was to have a trial. And I mentioned that a lot of these cases settle, but one of the caveats of settling is that you’re signing off your ability to speak about it. You know, that’s essentially, when you’re making a settlement agreement, you know, you’re settling for a sum of money and you’re not going to talk about that. There’s non-disclosure clauses; there’s non-disparagement clauses where you can’t talk negatively about what happened, and as you can imagine, it’s kind of hard to talk about what happened to him without talking negatively about the treatment that he received.
So when I first received word that there was a settlement offer and that offer was at the full amount – it was at the maximum amount that I could get in our state, under the circumstances for this type of case, that the doctors would have to pay — I really didn’t even have to think about it more than a second because I didn’t devote all these years not to speak about it. I mean, one of the purposes of this was to be able to talk about it when it was done, because I think it’s important to get the word out. It didn’t take me long to say that’s not even – I’m not even contemplating that. We’re not having a settlement. You know, that’s not even in the picture at all.
A couple weeks later – I’m sure my counsel let them know that that wasn’t something that would be agreeable, that we would just go forward with the trial, but then there was another offer which I never would have expected and don’t quite understand but another offer that in fact that they were willing to not only settle the case but to remove all that language from any release that you would have to sign off on. So, in other words, not only were they offering the maximum amount that they would have to pay if I – the case prevailed at trial, if we won in front of a jury, but also that there would be no clause in there that essentially would make it so I could never speak about it, which I didn’t know quite how to handle, because, as you can imagine, this has been going on for years and years. You know, he passed away in 2013. But upon thinking about it, I can only speak for myself, but I believe in the court of public opinion, when someone offers you the maximum amount that they would be exposed to have to give you from a jury, if you won your case in court, I think that speaks volumes about not only the quality of the treatment but the cause of his death. So in thinking about that and being able to finally have that release, my purpose in this was to get the word out and I wanted to validate it first with this case. And I think that’s been achieved.
And, you know, for me the importance of the lawsuit was to get the word out. You know, my son had three doctors who treated him – Dr. [Scott] Siegall, Dr. [Paul] Dobransky, Dr. [John] Kern – at a local, you know, mental health center in our community, Regional Mental Health. You know, we have a prescribing crisis. I mean, if I could show you the graphics that we were going to use at trial for the number of pills that my son was prescribed. It’s jaw-dropping.
You know, I always — I thought my ending would end with a trial, and that wasn’t quite the case. I don’t think I have an ending because now I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve wanted to be at which is where I could talk about it, and that was the importance of all this, to be able to talk about it and share this story and to help others who are [experiencing] or have experienced or are in the midst of experiencing something like this. Sometimes just validating someone could do a world of good, especially if they’re dealing with the frightening effects that we often categorize as mental health issues. So that’s why I’m back now to tell you about, you know, kind of the outcome to this story, and I just hate to see a situation like what we had to go through happen to anyone else. And that’s my purpose and that’s my motivation now. My son’s life had meaning. You know, everyone’s life has meaning and purpose and should be honored. This was a life. This was someone’s life that was unnecessarily taken. Now the fight is over.
Now, being an advocate comes with its own kind of fighting. People might not like what I say; they might not agree with me. But the purpose now has to truly shift to take everything that’s been done to address what he went through and to honor him and to re-channel that to actually help other people so they don’t have to experience what he did. And I know that’s difficult and I know that’s hard for people who’ve gone through this, but we’ve met an amazing army of the people you’ve talked to. I mean, that takes a lot of courage and bravery. And I hope that maybe if we do a recap five years from now — you know, people say even if they just touch one life it makes what they did meaningful. I hope I can say I touched a whole lot more than one, that in his honor and through his experience others don’t have to have the outcome my family did.
[Andy Miles] Heather writes, “Shea was a son, a brother, a grandson, and a friend to many. A scholarship fund was set up in his name for local students pursuing the arts and sciences so that his gifted talents could be an opportunity for others. Shea would be 33 years old this year.”
If you'd like to find out more and get the best information about this important topic of akathisia, the MISSD website is a great place to start.
[Wendy Dolin] "If you go to our website, the section that says What Is Akathisia? you will see the two MISSD videos, as well as we have an educational PDF that you can print off. We also are on Facebook and Twitter. If you like this podcast, learn more about akathisia and just send it to your contacts. And this is the way we spread our message. And I hope that people will really look at the signs and symptoms of akathisia. They’re listed in the videos, listed on the website."
[Andy Miles] That's MISSD founder Wendy Dolin.
You've been listening to the “Akathisia Stories” podcast. Next month, we'll have Bob Fiddaman's akathisia story. Bob has been an international drug safety advocate for decades and is also the author of the popular Fiddaman Blog. If you'd like to share your own story for this podcast, please email studio.c.chicago@gmail.com, and please share this podcast and subscribe.
I'm Andy Miles and I'd like to thank Heather McCarthy for her time and candor. We'll end the episode with a song from Shea McCarthy called "Beautiful Mystery," which you can find on the "Akathisia Stories" webpage at studiocchicago.com/akathisia-stories. There, you'll also find a link to a pair of "podcast extras" -- parts of my interview with Heather that were not included in this episode. Thank you for listening.