Should Paxil be prescribed to patients with severe arrythmias

[Nicoya69]

Hi, my mother suffered severe blockage of 3 of her main heart arteries, while in the hospital she was placed a transitory pace maker, which she no longer needed and was later removed. But depression was getting the best of her and Paxil 25mg became part of her daily medications. Prior to Paxil her heart mantained at "healthy" 95-110 bpm. A little after a week's time Paxil was start she was exposed to two more deaths in the ICU (where she had already withnessed 5 prior deaths; most of them due to heart attacks, the last one happening at 1am) Four hours later she sufferen form a ventricular tachycardia and went into cardiac arrest, doctors could not bring her back from. A couple of days after her passing I stumbled across some info on Paxil where it warned that medications coudl provoke VT as a side efftect. I keep trying to find answers to what really happen here. When I saw her teh night before all her signs were good, and then she was gone...Could somebody please help me make some sense of what happened to my mom? I have nightmares she was taken from us and not that it was her time to go. Your medical input woudl be greatly appreciated!!!

[Cleveland Clinic]

I doubt that the paxil was related to her unfortunate outcome.  It is more likely that the heart itself was weak and susceptible to the arrhythmias, as often happens after heart attacks and with severe coronary artery disease.  Sorry about your mom.