GALVESTON - Alleging her medications for psychiatric problems damaged her memory and caused her to fail out of medical school, Dallas County resident Marisa Ramon is suing her treating physician.
According to the suit filed Aug. 15 in Galveston County District Court, Ramon claims Dr. Sarghi Sharma continuously prescribed Klonopin and Lamictal even though she knew the drugs had negative effects on the plaintiff.
Ramon began seeing Dr. Sharma, a psychiatric consultant at the UTMB Wellness Center, in August 2007 for trichotillomania, a compulsive hair-pulling disorder.
Sharma originally prescribed Risperdal, but Ramon quit taking it when it did not help, the suit states.
The defendant then gave her Klonopin and instructed her to take the medication three times a day, but did not inform her that memory loss and an inability to form new memories were primary side effects, the suit states.
Toward the end of the year, Ramon complained of increased anxiety and was given more Klonopin.
"Despite having significant memory problems and causing the plaintiff to repeat her first year of medical school, the plaintiff continued trusting Dr. Sharma and continued meeting with her on a regular basis," recent court documents say.
Ramon claims she experienced increased irritability because of Hurricane Ike and her poor performance in school, so Dr. Sharma changed her bipolar disorder diagnosis changed and prescribed Lamictal.
"Eventually, the plaintiff was forced to leave medical school and suffered serious mental anguish from doing so," the complaint states.
Consequently, Ramon seeks unspecified monetary damages.
She is represented by attorney Collen A. Clark of Houston.
The case has been assigned to Galveston County 122nd District Court Judge John Ellisor.
Case No. 11-cv-1321