Posted by Maria Mangicaro
This was a press release from Sept. 22, 2000
“This is the most severe case that’s ever occurred.”
This statement was made by Stephan Antonsson, the Senior Vice-President of Shire Richwood, a British-owned corporation that makes the popular drug Adderall. The “case” that Antonsson was referring to involved Ryan Ehlis, one of Shire Richmond’s customers who had taken its drug, which is prescribed primarily for children with ADHD.
The other “cases” Antonsson referred to involved similar psychotic episodes experienced by patients as a result of taking Adderall. There had been at least ten, probably more. Most involved children, but some adults. This information was never given by Shire Richwood to the doctors and patients to whom it promoted its drug. No warning was given to Ryan Ehlis or his doctor.
Ryan Ehlis, a husband, father, and college student, was prescribed Adderall by his doctor because he was having problems with his calculus class. After taking the drug for ten days, Ryan––in an Adderall-induced psychosis (typified by hallucinations and delusions) –– took his shotgun into the bedroom of his sleeping five week-old daughter Tyra and shot her. He thought he was following God’s command to send her to Heaven. He then shot himself point-blank. Ryan survived. Tyra became Adderall’s “most severe case”.
Ryan was indicted for his daughter’s murder. But when two independent psychiatrists––one for the defense and one for the State of North Dakota ––agreed that the Adderall had produced a “drug-induced psychosis”, the prosecutor asked the Court to dismiss the case. Ryan’s selfimposed sentence of having to live with Tyra’s death for the rest of his life then began.
Ryan Ehlis and his wife Angie Moreno have filed suit against Shire Richwood in federal court in North Dakota. Incredibly, even after admitting that Tyra’s Adderall-induced murder was its “most severe case”, the manufacturer still refuses to warn the doctors. The litigation filed by the Ehlis Family might change that.
Click here to read the full complaint.
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