Latest news with #bipolarDisorder
The Independent
7 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
State can't use medication evidence to counter insanity defense in fatal crash, Georgia court says
In the prosecution of a Georgia woman who caused a fatal car crash while suffering a psychotic break, the state cannot use evidence that she had stopped taking some of her psychiatric medications to counter her insanity defense, the state's highest court ruled Wednesday. Michelle Wierson was driving her Volkswagen Tiguan at high speed through the streets of DeKalb County, in Atlanta 's suburbs, when she hit a Toyota Corolla stopped at a traffic light. The impact pushed the car into the intersection where it collided with another car. Miles Jenness, a 5-year-old passenger in the Toyota, suffered a traumatic brain injury and a severed spine and died days later. Everyone agrees that Wierson caused the September 2018 wreck. Her defense attorneys filed notice that she intended to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, saying that at the time of the wreck she was suffering from a 'delusional compulsion' caused by mental illness that absolves her of criminal liability. The DeKalb County district attorney's office wanted to present evidence that Wierson had stopped taking some medication prescribed to treat bipolar disorder, arguing that the jury should be allowed to consider that she voluntarily contributed to her mental state. The trial court said the state could use that evidence, but the state Court of Appeals reversed that ruling in a pretrial appeal. The state then appealed to the state Supreme Court, which upheld the intermediate appeals court's ruling. An Atlanta-area psychologist with a years-long history of bipolar disorder, Wierson believed at the time of the crash that she was on a mission from God to save her daughter from being killed, her lawyers have said. Georgia law outlines two tests for someone seeking to use an insanity defense at trial. Both have to do with the person's mental state 'at the time of' the alleged crime. The first says a person shall not be found guilty of a crime if they 'did not have mental capacity to distinguish between right and wrong' related to the act. The second says a person shall not be found guilty of a crime if the person acted because of 'a delusional compulsion' that 'overmastered' their will. An expert hired by the defense and another engaged by the court found that Wierson met both of those criteria. Justice Andrew Pinson wrote in Wednesday's majority opinion that the law says nothing about the cause of the person's mental state at the time of the crime. 'Put simply, the plain language of the insanity-defense statutes gives not even a hint that these defenses would not be available to a person who has 'brought about' the relevant mental state voluntarily, whether by not taking medication or otherwise,' he wrote. Robert Rubin, a lawyer for Wierson, has said that his client is 'haunted by the tragic consequences' of her actions. But he said in an email Wednesday that he hopes the Supreme Court ruling will allow the case to be resolved without a trial. 'The Georgia Supreme Court reaffirmed the basic principle that the focus of an insanity case is the defendant's state of mind at the time of the act,' he wrote. 'The State never disputed that our client was insane at the time of the accident. Its attempt to make this case about alleged medication compliance was misplaced and dragged this case out unnecessarily.' The DeKalb County district attorney's office did not immediately have a comment Wednesday. Bruce Hagen, a lawyer for the Jenness family said in an email that he was 'very disappointed, although not surprised' by the high court's ruling. In its ruling on this case, the Supreme Court also overturned its own ruling in a 1982 case that had created an exception to the insanity defenses. That case involved a man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia who, against his doctor's orders, put himself in a highly stressful situation and ended up killing two people.
The Sun
28-05-2025
- General
- The Sun
Woman, 24, watched a third of her skin ‘peel and detach' from her body just four days after taking routine NHS drug
SKIN HORROR Survivors of the condition have described the experience as feeling like they were being 'burned from the inside out' or 'cooked alive,' due to the intense pain and widespread skin loss it triggers A YOUNG woman saw nearly a third of her skin peel away in sheets just days after starting a new medication. The 24-year-old had been prescribed lamotrigine, a drug commonly used on the NHS to treat mood disorders and epilepsy. 3 3 3 But just days after starting the medication to treat her bipolar, she noticed a red rash spreading rapidly across her body. By day four she decided to head to the hospital after the marks started blistering and large areas of skin started falling off. Doctors treating her at Cheikh Khalifa International University Hospital in Morocco quickly diagnosed her with Lyell's syndrome, also known as toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). This is a rare but life-threatening reaction to a medication - which in this case was lamotrigine. But it has also been associated with antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory painkillers like ibuprofen. It happens when the body overreacts to a drug causing the outer layer of skin, known as the epidermis, to detach and peel away in sheets, exposing the raw, sensitive tissue beneath. In previous reports survivors of the condition have described the experience as feeling like they were being 'burned from the inside out' or 'cooked alive, due to the intense pain and widespread skin loss it triggers. In worst-case scenarios, it can leave those affected vulnerable to life-threatening complications like sepsis and organ failure - it carries a mortality rate between 20 and 40 per cent. In this case, published as part of a report in the journal Cureus, almost 30 per cent of her body surface area had been affected including her chest, back, arms, and thighs. Large sections of skin had already sloughed off by the time she arrived at hospital, leaving painful, exposed areas that had to be treated like serious burns. Doctors also noted that her mucous membranes were involved, meaning the reaction had affected not just her skin but also the inside of her mouth and genitals, a common but dangerous feature of TEN. Charlotte's agony: Surviving Stevens-Johnson Syndrome Once admitted, the unidentified woman was transferred to a specialist burns unit, as TEN causes skin damage similar to that seen in people with major burn injuries. "TEN is often described as a severe burn-like skin reaction because it causes widespread epidermal necrosis and detachment similar to that seen in patients with extensive burns," the authors of the report wrote. After intensive treatment in the burns unit including wound care, pain relief, and fluid replacement she began to recover. Doctors immediately stopped the lamotrigine to prevent further skin damage and prescribed another medication to manage her bipolar disorder safely. The authors stressed that while TEN is a rare reaction, patients starting drugs like lamotrigine should be monitored closely for early symptoms such as fever, rash, and blistering. "The early recognition and discontinuation of the offending drug is crucial in improving patient outcomes," they concluded. What is Lyell's Syndrome? Lyell's syndrome, or toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), is a rare but serious skin reaction usually caused by certain medications. It causes the skin to peel off in large sheets, leaving raw areas vulnerable to infection and fluid loss. It often affects the mouth and genitals too. Common triggers include antibiotics, anti-inflammatory painkillers like ibuprofen, and drugs for epilepsy or mood disorders. Treatment requires hospital care, often in a burns unit, and stopping the triggering drug immediately. Without quick treatment, it can be fatal, with a death rate of 20–40%. Early medical help is essential.
WebMD
16-05-2025
- Health
- WebMD
Bipolar Disorder and the Battle for Control
I've always been a type B sort of person. I'm never truly organized. Very creative and go-with-the-flow most days. Although that description may seem fitting for someone with bipolar disorder, having a more lackadaisical approach to life has often clashed with the ways I try to manage my condition. Control was the major theme of my childhood. I was raised in a very strict Christian household, which meant that I had to follow a more restrictive set of rules and expectations than some of my non-religious peers. I didn't have a choice of what I wore, what I watched on TV, how I spoke, or even who I was friends with. Privacy and free will didn't exist in my childhood or adolescence, so I've never had a healthy relationship with the idea of control. My 2016 bipolar II diagnosis definitely contributed to this dysfunctional connection. Learning that a lot of my behaviors or habits were caused by a chemical imbalance in my brain made me feel like I didn't have a steady grip on my own well-being. Knowing that I would experience hypomanic or depressive episodes for the rest of my life – at times I couldn't predict or choose – made me worry that I would never fully be in control of my own life. Even now, it's sometimes hard to not let those feelings overshadow my identity. The medications I take to manage my bipolar disorder and other diagnoses are a lifesaver. Literally. They help me remain as stable as possible and truly feel like myself. I rarely experience depressive or hypomanic symptoms, and I'm able to feel my emotions and go through tough times without totally spiraling. If I'm being honest, though, accepting that I'll probably need to stay on these medications forever in order to stay mentally well wasn't easy. Although I've been treated for bipolar disorder for many years, the urge to 'take back control' instead of sticking to my treatment plan and following my health care providers' instructions still comes up from time to time. I've been guilty of missing or purposely skipping doses of my medication more times than I'd like to admit. In my early 20s, I sometimes went months without taking them. You can imagine how badly this backfired. Plenty of episodes and hospital stays could have been avoided if I had just accepted that I was prescribed things like medication and regular therapy for a reason. Now that I'm in my 30s, I recognize how irresponsible and harmful those choices were, but I can also see how they served as a way for me to feel a sense of authority over my illness. Honestly, the battle I've fought to gain power over my mental health may never really be over. I am only human, so I anticipate that past frustrations or feelings around free will could still pop up from time to time. Despite this, I will always be thankful that I've had access to the amazing care I've been given for my mental health and the ways it has improved my sense of self. In other words, I'm trying my best to find empowerment in giving up a little 'power.'
Wall Street Journal
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
‘Next to Normal' Review: A Musical Worth Mulling on PBS
In 2019, The Wall Street Journal's longtime drama critic performed the dazzling, rarely seen critical 180 on 'Next to Normal,' the 2008 Brian Yorkey–Tom Kitt musical that had won a Pulitzer Prize, knocked out most of his colleagues and left him to 'bristle.' Revisiting the show as mounted by David Cromer ('America's greatest stage director') for the Chicago-area Writers Theatre ('America's finest regional theater company'), he found much to praise. It wasn't a rave, but he saw that Mr. Cromer had located a truth in the work that had previously been left untapped. It would be a very welcome thing to know what Terry Teachout, who passed away in 2022, thought about the 'Next to Normal' being presented by the PBS platform 'Great Performances,' as staged last fall at London's Wyndham's Theatre. Surely, a show about bipolar disorder, death, grief, medical ethics, electro-shock therapy and family dysfunction was never going to be the feel-good TV spectacular of 2025. But time has been more than unkind.
News24
08-05-2025
- News24
KZN man accused of beheading grandmother, playing with severed head to be tried in August
A Durban man accused of killing his grandmother and playing with her severed head is set to stand trial in August. The accused appeared in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on Thursday, his defence has questioned findings from two psychiatrists, requesting more reports for clarity. Judge Jacqueline Henriques postponed the matter to 24 July for further pretrial. The trial against a Durban man accused of beheading his grandmother and kicking her severed head 'like a football' is set to be heard in August. Thabo Ntokozo Nzimande appeared in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on Thursday, charged with the murder of 80-year-old Beatrice de Lange. His trial was set down to be heard from 25 August to 19 September. Soon after his arrest in June last year, Nzimande was sent for a psychiatric evaluation. First, he was evaluated at RK Khan Hospital by a district surgeon, where it was found that he had bipolar mood disorder as well as substance-induced psychotic disorder. It was also found that he had a history of substance abuse, which included cocaine, crack cocaine, alcohol and cannabis, having been to rehab three times in the past. The surgeon found he was unfit to stand trial but also recommended a further evaluation. READ | KZN man who allegedly beheaded his granny, 80, wants to plead to murder charge The report from subsequent evaluation at Fort Napier Hospital found that Nzimande was, in fact, fit to stand trial. Nzimande's Fort Napier panel consisted of two psychiatrists who separately and independently examined him at the hospital. In court, senior State advocate Nadira Moosa said the defence wants an additional report to be compiled by the two psychiatrists. She said: The issue that the defence has is not the accused's fitness to stand trial but the question of why only two psychiatrists and not three [examined him]. It's an issue of whether there was sufficient observation. Nzimande's defence lawyer, Patrick Mkhumbuzi, said he had discussed this issue with the State and it was still being ironed out ahead of the commencement of the trial. 'Our intention is not to delay the start of the trial; we wish to fully ventilate it so as not to cause delay,' he said. READ | Hawks on hunt for 2 people of interest in KZN cop killing The additional information that Mkhumbuzi requires will be reports from two psychiatrists, which will be compiled using all the available information in the case provided by the State and the version of the accused to be provided to the two by the defence. In light of Mkhumbuzi's request to secure an additional medical report, Judge Jacqueline Henriques postponed the matter to 24 July for further pre-trial. She also directed Mkhumbuzi to provide the accused's version to the State and hand over to the two psychiatrists by 16 May. The accused remains in custody after abandoning his bail application last year.
