During about 300 missions, Andrew had a steady diet of death and destruction.
A combat engineer, Andrew cleared mines and improvised explosive devices from roads before they blew up his fellow Marines, soldiers, and civilians. After nine months, White was sent home and eventually received a medical discharge for PTSD.
“It changed him,” Stan White said of combat. “He became a recluse. In the last four months of his life, he ate two meals with the family. He would take his food to his room.”
On Feb. 12, 2008, when Andrew had failed to meet her for a planned lunch at a restaurant, Shirley White went home. She found him dead in his bed. He was 23.
The problem, Stan White said, is that Andrew had been taking what the father called a “lethal cocktail” of Paxil, Klonopin, and Seroquel, prescribed by the doctor treating Andrew at a nearby Veterans Administration hospital. Paxil is an antidepressant. Klonopin, generally prescribed for panic disorder, is in a group of drugs that military officials now discourage using.
Seroquel, an antipsychotic, is made by AstraZeneca P.L.C., a global drugmaker with U.S. headquarters in Wilmington. After initially taking 25 milligrams of Seroquel per day, Andrew was taking 1,600 mg per day when he died, his father said.
Andrew had episodes of problem drinking, but the coroner found no alcohol in his system and attributed his death to an accidental intoxication of drugs, Stan White said.
The 40 pounds that Andrew gained is one of the known side effects of antipsychotic drugs like Seroquel.
“We don’t think they should be given to troops in the field,” Stan White said. “It’s worth asking whether they should be given to anybody anytime, civilian or military.”
