Sunday, September 12, 2010

Draper, UT: Clinic denies blame for  man  shooting  wife

By Jason Bergreen
The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Apr 21, 2010 08:36AM
Updated Sep 11, 2010 11:01PM
The Draper medical clinic that treated David Ragsdale in the months before he shot and killed his estranged wife in 2008 is denying blame for the murder.

Pioneer Comprehensive Medical Clinic responded Tuesday to a lawsuit filed on behalf of Ragsdale’s two young sons. The suit claims medications prescribed to Ragsdale in part caused him to gun down his wife, Kristy, in a church parking lot.

“The medical care received by Mister Ragsdale at PCMC was exceptional and appropriate,” attorney Michael K. McKell said Tuesday on behalf of the clinic. “Mister Ragsdale’s care was of the same degree other qualified health care providers would have provided under the same or similar circumstances. Mister Ragsdale’s care did not cause him to murder his wife. …”

The lawsuit also names Ragsdale’s physician, Hugo Rodier, and nurse practitioner Trina West, who is accused of prescribing a cocktail of steroids, anti-depressants and other drugs that pose a risk of psychiatric complications.

Ragsdale’s sister, Tamara, said Tuesday she and Kristy Ragsdale both noticed a change in her brother’s personality after he started taking prescription drugs.

“I honestly believe [David] did not know what he was doing because of the meds,” she said.

Tamara Ragsdale, who is a nurse, said she believes the anti-depressants her brother was taking should not have been prescribed together.

The suit claims the prescriptions began about eight months before Ragsdale shot his wife, starting with two types of steroids and a psychostimulant to treat attention deficit disorder.

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