Continuing, I add to this list of people whose lives were cut short by paliperidone long‑acting injections (LAIs).

Matteo Mezzano (October 10, 1992 – December 24, 2024), a 32-year-old from Pieve Ligure, Italy. As a child, he was put on quetiapine for sleep and took it for many years. He believed it had damaged him. He partially recovered from the two “loading doses” of Invega Sustenna, received in July 2021; he shared his experience on Bluelight (username @MatteM92) despite limited English. He ended up in a psych ward again in summer 2024, where he received haloperidol injections. A news article covering his death (linked) attributed it to mental health issues, though it was antipsychotic drugging that induced his suicide. He was on haloperidol when he jumped to his death.

Vamsi Kotta (April 11, 1997 – December 18, 2025), a 28‑year‑old from Austin, Texas, died by suicide as a result of the effects of coerced Invega shots. They received four injections total: the two loading doses (234mg and 156mg) followed by two monthly doses (117mg each), with the last on December 30, 2024. They held an engineering degree from the University of Texas at Austin and were a talented singer‑songwriter and artist. After the shots, they experienced anhedonia, cognitive dulling, and the loss of their creativity, sexuality, and spirituality, and came to believe they had permanent neurological damage. They shared their experience on Bluelight (username @rawbanana) and were the first to comment on the FDA’s October 2025 Draft Guidance on Paliperidone Palmitate (linked).

Luke Hall (23 March 1996 – 26 February 2026), a 29‑year‑old from Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, died by iatrogenic suicide as a direct result of Invega Sustenna (paliperidone) injections forced upon him in 2025 during a cannabis‑induced psychosis, and olanzapine later prescribed to treat the insomnia caused by paliperidone. He held a high‑paying, cognitively demanding job, was a dedicated Buddhist interested in meditation, and was athletic and physically active. He self‑identified as autistic. After the forced antipsychotics, he became disabled, suffering from inner akathisia (his nervous system felt stressed 24/7, in constant fight‑or‑flight), anhedonia, cognitive impairment, severe head pressure, and lost the ability to sleep without olanzapine. His Bluelight username was @lukeflowz.

Jason E. Staley (October 4, 1977 – August 26, 2023), a 45-year-old from Connellsville, Pennsylvania, endured months of persistent insomnia and anhedonia after three injections of Invega Sustenna before tragically taking his own life (death notice).

On August 25, 2023, his sister Kasi posted to Facebook that he was missing: “MY BROTHER Jason Staley IS MISSING … IF ANYONE HAS HEARD OR SEEN HIM PLEASE CONTACT ME ASAP”. On Saturday, August 26, 2023, his body was found in the Youghiogheny River in Connellsville, midway across the river in the water. The coroner was called to the scene around noon that day, and the coroner’s office confirmed the drowning on Sunday, August 27: https://www.wtae.com/article/connellsville-yough-river-coroner-fayette-county/44917256 . On August 30, 2023, his sister posted to Facebook the following:

(contd.)
January 16,2023 (THIRD SUICIDE ATTEMPT) He told my mom he was going to walk down to his apartment and take a shower etc… only for my mom to get a call from a family friend who is a firefighter that Jason was getting ready to be lifeflighted because he had went down and laid in the railroad tracks and had his left arm taken completely off clear up to the shoulder… he said he had his head on the tracks then at the last minute he moved his head but kept his arm there and after it cut his arm off he got up and walked over to the police station. After all his surgeries for his arm he was taken to William R Sharp Jr Hospital Mental Ward for 2 1/2 months.
8/1/2023 He was very nervous said he didn’t feel good was dizzy. He said he can’t live like this anymore and started walking from the house and my mom told him to get back here and he wouldn’t so my mom called 911 for police to pick him up and and she went to the hospital to file a 302 while I followed him on foot until the cops picked him up because we wasn’t sure where he was heading that night because he was heading in the direction of the bridge the night. He again was admitted to Penn Highlands (Highlands Hospital) where while he was in the ER he got a nurse in a head lock because he wanted the cops to shoot him (FOURTH SUICIDE ATTEMPT) so the hospital filed a 303 and he was kept 20 days they talked about putting him in the old YMCA om the South Side which is some type of home and we expressed our concern that he needs to be in a locked facility because if not the first chance he gets to escape he’s going to and he’s going to do something to himself. So they said they’d see what they could do. So basically what they came up with is releasing him with stipulations of him allowing this special team to come into his house 5 days a week and they’d do his meds and take him to appointments etc. (How this is any better I have no clue like he needed a LOCKED FACILITY WITH SUPERVISION and we expressed this. Then they told us the team was able to start til September 4th but they were going to release him now and my mother and I both spoke up and said that not a good idea and my mom told them she cant do this but they didn’t care and proceeded with the release process anyways.
PLEASE SHARE SHARE SHARE THIS SO THIS DON’T HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE.”

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A few deaths due to paliperidone palmitate found in official medical case reports:

• A 2017 case report details the severe, prolonged episode of drug-induced parkinsonism in a 68‑year‑old man that ultimately led to his death roughly five months after receiving two injections of paliperidone palmitate (234 mg followed one week later by 156 mg). The authors state that “practitioners should be cognizant of the potential long‑term consequences of paliperidone LAI.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6007667
• In 2019, it was reported that a 33-year-old man died after a single injection of 819 mg of Trevicta (paliperidone palmitate three-monthly injection), with paliperidone poisoning appearing to be the highly likely cause of death: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337356064_Death_following_an_intramuscular_injection_of_paliperidone_A_case_report
• A 2021 case report documented a 72‑year‑old woman with Lewy body dementia who developed fatal neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) after receiving a single 156 mg intramuscular injection of paliperidone palmitate; she remained comatose and died following a prolonged hospital course after palliative care measures were initiated: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1155/2021/8879333

November 7, 2013 – Tyson Mathews (sometimes spelled Matthews), a 30-year-old from Teralba, New South Wales, Australia, died by hanging himself while under a CTO (Community Treatment Order) that forced him to receive monthly depot injections of paliperidone palmitate (brand name Invega Sustenna). His mother was concerned about the appropriateness of the injections, and the inquest specifically investigated whether Invega Sustenna was a contributing factor in his death. Kerrie Mathews observed that after the dose was increased at the end of August 2013, her son’s “psychotic symptoms settled somewhat but he became markedly more depressed” (neuroleptic dysphoria). She questioned whether the drug contributed to his condition and death. Despite his depression worsening, Ms. Mathews felt healthcare professionals did not fully acknowledge the deterioration. On October 30, 2013, she expressed concern that he was becoming more depressed, but his case manager noted he was not suicidal, had no psychotic symptoms, and moved a future appointment forward. (Image: Kerrie Mathews holds a photo of her son Tyson.)

• https://coroners.nsw.gov.au/documents/findings/2017/Findings%20-%20Tyson%20Matthews.pdf
• https://www.nine.com.au/australia-news/nsw/nsw-man-died-four-days-after-discharge-20170822-p5vt6r.html

December 30, 2018 – Mathew Leslie McCoy, a 27‑year‑old man who was subject to a CTO that forced him to receive paliperidone by depot injection (Invega Sustenna), as well as oral clozapine and olanzapine, was found dead in a hotel parking lot in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, on December 30, 2018. Several weeks before his death, his mother observed him have an episode of seizures, after which he asked her to “remember his name” and to remember him – behaviour she thought unusual even for him (it “caused her to wonder if he could feel that his health was failing as it was strange behaviour, even for him”). The coroner concluded that the cause of death could not be determined to a medical certainty, but that there were no suspicious circumstances and death was not due to trauma or suicide. A forensic pathologist indicated the most likely cause was cardiac arrhythmia in the setting of “schizophrenia” and antipsychotic drugs interacting with alcohol. An inquest was held because of his status under a Treatment Order.

• https://www.magistratescourt.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/642925/McCoy,-Mathew.pdf#1%231 )

January 11, 2019 – Andrew Jeffrey Rich, a 29-year-old Wisconsin man, died by suicide while under court-ordered Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT) following a breakdown in May 2017. He was required to receive regular injections of Invega Sustenna under Wisconsin’s Chapter 51 commitment law. Over approximately 18 months, recommitment orders were repeatedly extended on the basis that he denied having a mental illness and would likely stop “medication” if released, despite his psychiatrist acknowledging no observed psychotic symptoms during that period and Rich living and working independently in the community. Rich reported severe side effects from the injections, including emotional blunting and loss of physical sensation. Following a final recommitment order in December 2018, he died by suicide on January 11, 2019, at age 29. His mother, attorney Elizabeth Rich, founded the nonprofit Andrew’s V.O.I.C.E. (Victory Over Involuntary Commitment Excesses) to advocate for mental health law reform.

• https://www.madinamerica.com/2019/07/twenty-years-kendras-law-case-aot/
• https://www.madinamerica.com/2022/09/attorney-rich-unjust-commitments/

2019 – Tuva Andersson, a 37-year-old woman died by suicide in her apartment where she lived alone in Sweden. She had been forcibly administered paliperidone palmitate depot injections at a forensic psychiatric facility without a confirmed psychotic diagnosis, over her explicit objection. Documented adverse effects included severe muscle stiffness, loss of motor function, and marked cognitive deterioration, which treating clinicians attributed to her underlying condition rather than the medication. An additional medication for Parkinsonism was added rather than the paliperidone being reduced. Andersson had studied mathematics at university, was artistically gifted and had no psychotic symptoms. Her documented primary problem was anxiety. A post-mortem assessment by an independent psychiatrist retained by the regional insurance authority concluded that her care had been deficient and that her death was likely caused by failures in her treatment. An official post-mortem report by a regional chief physician noted that the period of forensic psychiatric care had devastating consequences the patient never recovered from.

• https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/07/tuva-andersson/