36 Comments

• LoveandLight | Oct 21, 2010, 02:54 AM EDT

  There has yet again, been a beautiful coverup by the pharmaceutical industry. The CDC has been reporting an increase in teen suicide for years, granted there is little recent information because we all know the media is controlled. But what a perfect scapegoat for the pharmaceutical companies, who even have to disclose in their commercials, that their "medications" increase thoughts of suicide in teens and young adults. Bullying has always been and always will be, the only differnce is the psychotropic drugs which lead teens and young adult to already be predisposed to suicide. The national call to arms against bullying is the perfect scape goat to take the attention away from a billion dollar industry that openly admits to causing individuals who would not otherwise think of it, to commit suicide. We listen to our news channels, and fight against an invisible enemy, but it is always the wrong one.

• Rockkie | Aug 13, 2010, 09:48 AM EDT

  Sadly, with all the FDA/government corruption the mental health system is the new Hotel California of the 21st century. You get in but you don't get out. Just like Phoebe. Very bizarre news the other day, the FDA has approved Ecstasy to treat soldiers with PSTD. I guess they want to cash in on them, too, after they have served their country. Very sad.

• Rockkie | Aug 13, 2010, 09:43 AM EDT

  I believe we (as this article) are saying that the hadley six are the ONLY people taking a rap for this. The staff is NOT. And that does not seem quite right. As for my "obsession" with Prozac?!?!? I have nothing to gain by being obsessed with Prozac, I don't take it or know people who do, I don't sell it, I didn't invent it. I am just going by what I read about it and other SSRI's in conjuction with bizarre behaviors, murders and suicides.

• Chemteach | Aug 09, 2010, 01:45 PM EDT

  Rockkie, What do you mean by "completely absurd". Do you mean that it is not congruent with the facts uncovered? Do you mean that is has no basis in either logic or law? Or is it merely the emotional expression of your distaste for particular lines of argumentation which are not centered on your obcession with Prozac? Asserting that other school personnel are just as inert and inept is not exculpatory in either logic or law. This tragedy happended on their watch and it is their nonfeasance and misfeasance that is in question. The others would be just as culpable had it happened at their school.It's kind of a wakeup call to school personnel to start doing the jobs which they supposedly have the knowledge and experience to do. A "there, but for the grace of God, go I" moment so to speak.

• Chemteach | Aug 09, 2010, 12:57 PM EDT

  We do not know the variable or variables which caused Phoebe Prince to commit suicide as that would require knowledge of her actual state of mind at the time of the act. The venture into pharmacopia by some posters is a deflection from the question posed in this article. Did personnel at the school have access to Phoebe's mental health problems (the evidence uncovered so far seems to be yes). Was Phoebe properly identified as an "at risk individual"? (no,by their own testimony) Did those persons act in a reasonable and prudent manner; given their education, expertise, and experience; to effective address the behavior and concerns of Phoebe relative to her harassment at the school? (the answer seems to be a resounding no from the evidence). If the answer to question 1 is true and to the others, false, then the school personnel are guilty of nonfeasance and misfeasance in tort regardless of what was in Phoebe's medicine cabinet. Actually, Bazelon's expose makes the school personnel seem more culpable and that is probably by design as she desires to deflect culpability away from the South Hadley Six. The pharmaceutical information provided in some posts is interesting, but not probative. It would be considered irrelevant testimony in the criminalk trials of the accused as they are not charged with either murder or manslaughter. Nor would it be relevant in civil lawsuits against the school system personnel as "depraved indifference" and negligence would be the basis in tort.

• mkjudge | Aug 05, 2010, 07:26 AM EDT

  I'm a Special Ed. Teacher and you would think that both the nurse and couselor would have duct taped Phoebe to themselves until her aunt or mother came to pick her up. Their apathy is scary and wouldn't fly at the school I work in. That poor kid came in asking for help and they blew her off. That must be hard to sleep with at night...

• PRINCESSLAW | Jul 27, 2010, 08:19 AM EDT

  The fact is even if you don't hold the bullies responsible that doesn't make the bullying acceptable behavior. Nor does it give a ticket for ignorance by the school officials. Bullying always starts off chain of events. No matter what Phoebe mental state was those bullies are responsible for their actions, and so they should be held accountable. What are we saying even bringing that up her history that you can bully normal people. These bullies are screaming we didn't know. If we knew we wouldn't of. The only true remorse bullies have is getting caught. I was reading in an article dont you think the bullies have had enough punishment? My answer is not nearly enough.. Whatever Phoebe's history these bullies actions led to her death. These bullies held hands with her to her death and haunted they will be.

• Rockkie | Jul 26, 2010, 08:48 AM EDT

  @MaryM232, I only it were that easy to hold the parents accountable. The problem with the current state of healthcare (and it's going to get a lot worse with the current legislation) is that you cannot have the expectation that the doctor/counselors are going to have even the first clue about what to do in any situation. I'm sure the mother was doing everything she was told by the doctors. That's probably the whole problem. I.E.) Recently I cut myself on something on my deck and didn't notice it for awhile. Then my whole arm stared turning red from this little tiny cut. I immediately went to the urgent care and got a tetanus shot b/c it's probably been decades since I had one. My expectations were that the doctor would be completely able to fix this situation and I would be fine. That's exactly what happened. This is not so with mental health. In mental health, a treatment seems to always be started BEFORE an actual solid diagnosis is made. Basically, it's the old adage of throwing sh** up against the wall and see what sticks. There is too much profit at stake for the pharma companies to ever admit anything about how bad these psych meds are. I have at least 6 personal stories I can think of just at the monent of people I know whose lives have either almost been ruined or are dead from these drugs.

• AmAncINED | Jul 25, 2010, 01:53 PM EDT

  Rockkie, I agree with your position but it doesn't give the school administrators or the bullies a pass. The school personnel is responsible for the welfare of all its students during school hours. The bullies didn't have the right to infringe on Phoebe's right to get an education, free of personal threats and intimidation, regardless of what her mother did or didn't do and whether she was taking Prozac or not. The school's responsiblity was to put a stop to the bullying and to protect Phoebe from torment while she was at school. They didn't do that. That's why school districts have been sued by the parents of victims of bullies. Her family has every right to sue the drug makers, but the school and the bullies should still be held accountable for their actions that led to her suicide. All schools should have a Zero tolerance for bullying.

• MaryM232 | Jul 25, 2010, 11:35 AM EDT

  No accountability for Phoebe's mother who knew of her daughter's psychiatric condition and history? Was she putting the effort in, had she informed the school of her daughter's past self mutilation and being hospitalized, and medicated for this condition? Had she sought continued medical attention for her daughter since emigrating to the US, to ensure she continued to get the help she required? Or is this an attempt to curry support for a lawsuit? You can't leap over the mother's responsibility, and point the finger of blame elsewhere all the time. Have to ask this as well, I haven't seen any mention of the bullies in depth in the Irish community. Having friends who lived in South Hadley, I know for a fact that the ring leader, is the daughter of illegal aliens, Sharon Velazquez, her mother Angeles Chanon is making excuses for her daughter, and trying to blame Phoebe for the bullying. Perhaps Mr. O'Dowd can't be bothered to connect the dots, but when you condone illegal aliens as having a right to violate the law, they keep doing so, and don't respect the rights of others. Ms. Velasquez is the one who initiated the bullying against Phoebe, because she was angry about a boy asking Phoebe to a dance, instead of her. She's the one who called Phoebe an "Irish b*tch" and started encouraging others to harass her. The school definitely didn't uphold it's obligations to deal with the bullying that is a fact, but they aren't the one's responsible for Phoebe's long history of mental problems, or responsible for insuring the girl was getting needed medical help, that was her mother's responsibility.

• JoseWales | Jul 25, 2010, 10:13 AM EDT

  Maybe I should jump on the bandwagon along with the folks that want to persecute the alleged bullies, the school administrators and nurses, everybody else except the person who actually committed the act... "Burn the witches! Hang them!" Ah... mob action is so cathartic... almost releases as many endorphins as self-mutilation.

• Rockkie | Jul 24, 2010, 08:38 PM EDT

  Phoebe's family has retained an attorney and I would look for a suit against the prescribing physician and possibly the pharmaceutical companies once a full observation of the situation is done by their attorney. Not the school or the bullies.

• Rockkie | Jul 24, 2010, 08:33 PM EDT

  @AmAncINED, That comment was directed toward McNabb1966. You never stated that my statements were idiocy. They did. As for "NO PROOF in Phoebe's case that Prozac caused her suicide" There is no requirement to prove each individual case once the effects of a certain drug are known and accepted. That would be like expecting the prosecution in each drunk driving fatality to go back and research and PROVE that alcohol impairs driving ability and led to the death. The correlating statistics for the fact that these drugs cause suicide, homicide, criminal behavior and life-long mental illness are overwhelming and only covered up because of financial interests. Last month in Florida, the senate held an investigation into the foster care system after Gabriel Myers, a 7 year old on anti-depressants hung himself. They found that 55% of kids in foster care were on psych meds, even without the proper authorization. 33% of inmates in Florida prisons were previous foster kids. The same situation exists in TX thanks to the TMAP (Texas Medication Algorithim Project) legislation, a plan hatched between government and pharmaceutical industries to be used on those receiving public assistance with first line treatment for anything always being drugs. These huge statistical correlations greatly surpass even the 10% correlation between smoking and lung cancer, but yet we're sure smoking causes lung cancer, but not that these drugs cause problems. Something is very amiss here.

• AGuedes | Jul 24, 2010, 07:49 PM EDT

  If Phoebe had a story of cutting herself, why did she choose to hang herself ? How can we be certain she didn't simply experienced the fainting game ?

• AmAncINED | Jul 24, 2010, 01:16 PM EDT

  Rockkie, I never said you were an idiot. I just said there was NO PROOF in Phoebe's case that Prozac caused her suicide. I agree that Prozac is a powerful drug that can affect certain people in a negative way and I agree that it's a possibility that it may have contributed to her death. We'll probably never know. I'd say that it's likely there were a combination of factors that contributed to her suicide. We CAN PROVE that the bullies caused an already troubled girl enormous pain. The school administrators did nothing to stop the bullies and it was their responsiblity to do so. Prozac or not, that doesn't give the people involved a pass for their despicable actions. They all should be held accountable for their part in Phoebe's suicide.

• ericalaughlin | Jul 24, 2010, 01:14 PM EDT

  @ Rockkie...true...some meds can cause certain reactions. Naturally, we don't know if this was the case with her but there is merit to what you say about some meds having an adverse affect. Every person is different.

• ericalaughlin | Jul 24, 2010, 01:07 PM EDT

  @ Kilbarry1...most of the harrassment occurred on school grounds, during school hours. That's 6 hours a day where the staff is responsible for what goes on with the students. We don't know how her family was dealing with her issues. So it's really unfair to assume that her family was not doing what they should have. What we do know is that she was harrassed at school. We do know that, at the very least, one staff member knew about her issues. Depression is not a choice. Perhaps she stood a chance at recovery if she had not been harrassed the way she was. We'll never know.

• Rockkie | Jul 24, 2010, 12:09 PM EDT

  @McNab1966, It's a well known fact that an individual in the throes of chemical addiction will resort to any fantatstical explanation of blame on outside forces to continue their usage. The nature of addiction is that it is a chemical solution to a non-chemical problem. Melissa Huckaby, Kevin Underwood, Andrea Yates, Melanie Blocker-Stokes, Columbine, Alyssa Bustamante, David Ragsdale, Christopher Alan Wood, Christopher Pittmann, Kurt Danysh, Rebecca Riley, David Carradine, Gabriel Myers, urban Legends or real people? Some people who are loyal addicts will even resort to name calling, like "idiocy" (ie, bullying.)

• shawnpcochran | Jul 24, 2010, 12:04 PM EDT

  Unfortunately nothing will change until the bullies are sentenced for their crimes. Their parents, the school district, the administrators, the owners of all the mediums that Phoebe was bullied on, and the that evil emily bazelon is sued for what they did to Phoebe. People don't understand that their behavior has consequences and until the Prince family goes on a suing spree and pillage these poor excuse for human beings then we might have some real change. You need to understand that in America on bad people go to ail anyone can get sued. There is also a culture in my country we have a problem taking responsibility for our actions because it is always someone else's fault so unfortunately the courts will need to decide.

• McNabb1966 | Jul 24, 2010, 11:19 AM EDT

  Everybody loves a good urban legend...like the one about the anti-depressant that makes an otherwise happy, healthy person become homicidal or suicidal. It's particularly popular with defense attorneys...

• adrienrain | Jul 24, 2010, 10:38 AM EDT

  BTW, I have no doubt that Prozac or similar drugs incite suicidal thinking or violence - I've seen it again and again. That doesn't excuse the bullies, nor the adult co-conspirators.

• adrienrain | Jul 24, 2010, 10:34 AM EDT

  Phoebe's parents had NO influence on the bullies or the bullies' parents, and apparently, NO influence on the school personnel, who so busily ignored her plight. When I was a kid, we kept a small flock of chickens - all pretty much alike. But there was always one a little smaller or with one odd feather, that would be the brunt of all of them. Take that one out and they'd find another. People aren't chickens, but kids will behave a lot like that unless they are taught differently. Unfortunately, for bullying to WORK, the teachers and administrators must be part of the 'flock' - which is what probably happened here. Those who had the oversight, were passively in on the bullying game. That sort of thing came up in convent school - but the nuns were never in on it, so it went away.

• McNabb1966 | Jul 24, 2010, 08:40 AM EDT

  @Kilbarry1... Phoebe's suicide is a tragedy for almost everyone involved...except for the bullies who publicly celebrated her death and the clueless wonders who prefer to blame the victim. As I've said before, if the bullies had shown remorse for their actions and respect for the departed they probably would have avoided prosecution. Obviously the school was fully prepared to cover everything up. But their attitude and actions after Phoebe's death provide clear evidence that they had the intention of harming her. They deserve to be prosecuted, as well as members of the administration. I agree with the comment that there are others who are getting a free pass despite their negligence.

• McNabb1966 | Jul 24, 2010, 08:26 AM EDT

  @Rockkie... Again, where is the evidence of mass suicide due to the effects of SSRI? So-called "scientific studies" are a dime-a-dozen in the high stakes world of the drug industry. Everybody has a study that supports its product and trashes its rivals. But that's really beside the point, isn't it? Even you admit that suicide CAN be traced back to specific events. I don't know if you're an idiot or not but the idiocy of your statements doesn't paint a positive picture. It's nonsense to think that the medications, rather than the cruelty of her peers, who had all the power in that school, caused her suicide.

• Rockkie | Jul 24, 2010, 07:49 AM EDT

  The cutting behavior is not tied to suicide. Cutting behavior (in her case this last should have been a clear sign that she was in deep trouble and trying to regulate her feelings) is a chemically addictive behavior since the brain releases endorphins in response to cutting. People become mysteriously addicted to cutting and the mental health community is clueless about this phenomenon. It is the same as the diseases anorexia and bulimia, when a person throws up or starves, endorphins are released naturally to mitigate the painful effects. To treat these behaviors as a mental problem when they are a physical problem and give serotonin enhancing drugs make the release of endoprhins even more potent and and therefore the behavior even more addictive, to the point where the person would be completely not in control of it anymore. This fact probably greatly led to Phoebe's humiliation and shame even more than the bullying and was likely the causal factor of her suicide, not the bullying.

• Rockkie | Jul 24, 2010, 07:36 AM EDT

  @McNabb1966 & AmAncINED, You seem to be getting and idiot's (which you pre-suppose I am) "opinion" and results of expensive, professional, double blind scientfically controlled clinical trials mixed up. Prozac carries a "black box warning" that speficially states it's use can result in sucidality. Any person who was suicidal at the time of the beginning study would have been eliminated from it because it is unethical to give a suicidal person a placebo. So all suicidality is treatment emergent (unless it could be tracked down to a specfic event, like the death of a loved one, and they only count a portion of it. Seroquel is not even approved for use in people her age and was mostly studied in elderly alzhiemers patients. In Canada, most SSRI's not only carry the black box warning for suicidality but also "homocidal ideation." Many mass murders and other murders have been committed by those under the influence of these drugs. Those warnings are in Canada and not the US because the healthcare system is run by the government, not the other way around, as it is in the US. It's very clear just how addictive and mind altering these drugs are from the loyal people that stick up fr them.

• Kilbarry1 | Jul 24, 2010, 03:57 AM EDT

  It may sound heartless to say it but a 15 year old girl bears some responsibility for her own actions. In my father's time most young people of that age had left school and were working full time. My father was actually running the farm because HIS father had died young. After the individual, responsibilty lies with the parents. The school authorities come NEXT in line but can rarely come anywhere near matching the influence of the home. I am taking it for granted that the people who carried out the bullying bear a heavy responsibility. However young people don't normally commit suicide because they are bullied. Other factors must be present also.

• DeaconJack | Jul 23, 2010, 03:37 PM EDT

  This a.m. news just opened another can of evil worms as to the "defence" barristers using deep background,personal info,toexcuse the "perps"--I think her memory is going to get more thorns and scourging before we are done!

• ericalaughlin | Jul 23, 2010, 02:17 PM EDT

  It is extremely bothersome to see that the students involved are bearing the brunt of this while the staff involved sit back quietly.

• KansasUSA | Jul 23, 2010, 01:43 PM EDT

  This sad story just keeps getting worse and worse. Instead of reaching out to Phoebe on that last day when she was afraid she would be beat up and wanted to go home-she was sent back to class. It sounds more and more like the school simply refuses to take responsibility for their own inaction. Her tormentors certainly knew her history and they took action. There isn't a hole deep enough to put these animals in that would suit me.

• AmAncINED | Jul 23, 2010, 01:38 PM EDT

  Agree with McNabb, Parents, and Niall. Rockkie, you can't prove the Prozac led to Phoebe's suicide but there's plenty of proof that these bullies psychologically tortured this girl while the school administrators took no action to stop it in spite of several red flags. The school officials and the bullies need to be held accountable for this unnecessary tragedy. Shame on all of them!!! Drugs or no drugs, severe bullying can lead to lifetime emotional scarring and teen suicide. There should be absolutely no tolerance by anyone for bullying.

• PhoebesRevenge | Jul 23, 2010, 01:25 PM EDT

  This school psyhciatrist must be a very arrogant, sycophantic person to so easily dismiss these latent signs of severe depression and distress. Was she not also aware that Phoebe was being bullied and humiliated on a daily basis. Hey Mrs. Psychiatrist, forget everything you learned in school about the greater good. Just follow school protocol and dismiss. I bet you even muttered something derogatory under your breath as the child left your office. I don't maybe something like, "what a freak" or "what these kids do to get attention." Well did she get your attention?

• Parents | Jul 23, 2010, 11:58 AM EDT

  Nothing revealed should let that school and how it is run out of any responsibility for safe guarding the students. This child had a history, the school was informed and still did nothing to help her. Any teenagers going through what she did might come to the conslusion there was no other way out, drugs or no drugs. We heard from thousands of hurting kids and parents, they were not on drugs but their lives were torture because of bullies. These bullies even defiled her in death....they are the scary ones. They and the school who let it happen need to take responsibility and change things. We heard from other students who changed from this school for this exact reason and with or without drugs they had to get away also. No matter what this poor girl was going though personally the behavior of the bullies and the school admin. was wrong.

• pflynn70 | Jul 23, 2010, 11:48 AM EDT

  Good morning Niall from Texas, Great writing about a very sad and terrible incident, hopefully the the school officials will get what they deserve and a very sad lesson was learned. P/S It's great having an an article that we both agree on, keep it up. Slan. Pat

• McNabb1966 | Jul 23, 2010, 10:24 AM EDT

  @Rockkie...What nonsense! Another version of blame the victim, specifically the drugs she took are what "really" killed her. It's a completely bogus argument BUT...even if there was some validity to what your claiming, it in no way mitigates the culpability of the school administration or the bullies who have been charged. Newsflash, genius. You can't kill a person and then claim immunity from prosecution on the grounds that the person would have died anyway...sooner or later. Do you have any facts and figures to illustrate the number of people in this country that are on SSRI medication compared with a percentage who commit suicide BECAUSE of it? The fact of the matter is that SSRI medication is intended to deal with a chemical imbalance. But what we're talking about in this case is a clear example of deliberate psychological torture that no SSRI was intended to deal with. All those kids understood was that they wanted to make Phoebe's life such a living hell that suicide seemed preferable.

• Rockkie | Jul 23, 2010, 08:56 AM EDT

  This is completely absurd. The nurse, the bullies, and the school are just lame probably like thousands of others across the country. There is no way that South Hadley Admin, nurse and counselors are so much different from any other school. Why would Phoebe be "deeply depressed" when she was being treated with Prozac, this wonder drug that cures chemical imbalances? She should be the picture of mental health. No one knows someone is really going to commit suicide, that's why it's always such a shock! Nurses should be trained not to assess the likelihood of suicide by actions and words, but by the prescriptions a person is currently on. If this would have been the case, Phoebe would have been hospitalized until getting off these drugs that increase suicidality by hundreds of times the norm. The fact is, and thankfully is known now, that Prozac and Seroquel, the medical and pharmaceutical industries are her tormentors, not South Hadley High. The reason she was cutting herself and unable to function properly was that she was temporarily insane due to the effects of the drugs. Seroquel is an anti-psychotic. It's fequently used to knock out drug and alcohol patients so they can sleep and it's very strong. If Phoebe was taking this and still awake, she was probably sufferring from extreme mania and akathasia brought on by the Prozac, another drug well-known for inducing suicidal events. Her parents have retained a lawyer and hopefully they will sue the makers of Prozac and Seroquel.