Lindsay Lohan is free again, released from UCLA Rehab after serving 13 days in jail and 23 days in rehab. And, the tabloids are right there with her: this morning, they're reporting what LiLo drank her first day after being released from care (a Rockstar energy drink). In fact, CNN found it newsworthy coverage to report on the number of news reports on Lindsay Lohan's first day out ("Lindsay Lohan caught on camera post-rehab")
The bigger newstory, of course, is the UCLA Determination that Lindsay Lohan's problems stem from Adderall
Lindsay Lohan was supposed to spend three months at the UCLA treatment facilities - instead, she spent three weeks. UCLA released her after deciding that Lindsay doesn't suffer from bipolar disorder or some strange personality glitch but instead, she's been taking a pill that was making her crazy. No pill, no problem.
And that pill is Adderall. Something that people all over this country take everyday because of its purported miracle effects: lose weight! do better work! live a better life!
Misdiagnosed, and Adderall can bring on a psychosis. It makes you crazy. UCLA is right about that. Whether or not the rehab is right about Lindsay Lohan, well, time will tell. Let's hope so -- Lindsay Lohan has great talent and luckily, lives and works in a community that will allow her a second chance.
Duty of Doctors Prescribing Adderall
If Lindsay Lohan was misdiagnosed, if Lindsay Lohan relied on a doctor's advice and under a doctor's care she was taking these pills, then Lindsay Lohan may be able to legally look to that doctor for damages caused by his error in diagnosis.
The same is true for anyone harmed by a doctor's misdiagnosis -- it's a medical negligence case. Straight-forward medical malpractice.
Duties of Drug Companies Profiting From Adderall
However, Charlotte Hilton Andersen of the Huffington Post, reporting on the Lindsay Lohan - Adderal story, cites "[p]rescriptions of the drug are up 3100% over the past several years which only increases the black-market viability," and that it's estimated that "25% of college students take Adderall or Ritalin for non-medical purposes."
That's a lot of Adderall pills floating around our communities. One has to wonder if there isn't a legal responsibility for the drug manufacturer to warn about the dangers of misuse of its products, or to do more to prevent kids from popping its ADHD meds for other reasons.
That's the essence of products liability law, and maybe someone needs to think about the duties of the Adderall drug companies here as well as what shoes LiLo is wearing today.
By on August 26, 2010 12:54 PM
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