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Emotional testimony on psychotropic informed‑consent bill; committee rolls bill to the hill for revision
Summary
Supporters urged passage of HB1160 to require prescribers to provide FDA product labels and counseling for first‑time psychotropic prescriptions and to report side effects to MedWatch; a Minnesota consumer representative recounted family tragedy. Members asked for drafting changes and the bill was rolled to the hill for further work.
Representative Lynn presented House Bill 1160, the Psychotropic Medication Informed Consent and Reporting Act, which would require prescribers to provide FDA product labels and any FDA‑required medication guides to patients or parents, review those materials with them and obtain a signature acknowledging receipt. The bill would also require reporting of side effects to the federal MedWatch system.
Kim Witsack, who said she served as a consumer representative on the FDA Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee and traveled from Minnesota, gave emotional testimony about her husband Woody's suicide after a severe adverse reaction to an antidepressant and urged the committee to pass the bill. "If he had been informed of what this side effect was, we would have maybe known," she said, recounting that she found internal drug company and FDA documents during subsequent litigation. Several members expressed sympathy and interest in the concept but raised substantive drafting challenges; the chair and sponsor agreed to roll the bill to the hill to allow additional work on language and implementation details.
