Pills vs. Talking (ABC News) Dad Investigated for Taking Son Off Meds (NM)

[Liberal Classic]

This article is about children on anti-depressants, and the conflict between doctors and parents that sometimes occurs. However, in recent years a new trend has emerged in which parents going against their doctor's advice are being threatened with charges of child abuse.

I am posting this article here rather than in the Health/Social Policy because of the criminal child abuse angle. Also, Justice/Public Safety need more diversity of topics in my opinion. My thoughts on the article are below.

Here is the URL:

http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/Living/US/mental_illness_treatment_kids_040607-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

Here is a lengthy excerpt from the article, which has several more pages:


Pills vs. Talking

When It Comes to Mental Illness, Parents Face Dilemmas Over Medication, Talk Therapy

By Bryan Robinson (ABC News)

June 7, 2004 — When Chad Taylor noticed his son was apparently experiencing serious side effects from Ritalin prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, he decided to take the boy off the medication. Now, he says he may be accused of child abuse.

In February, 12-year-old Daniel began displaying some symptoms that his father suspected were related to the use of Ritalin.

"He was losing weight, wasn't sleeping, wasn't eating," Taylor told ABC News affiliate KOAT-TV in New Mexico. " just wasn't Daniel."

So Taylor took Daniel off Ritalin, against his doctor's wishes. And though Taylor noticed Daniel was sleeping better and his appetite had returned, his teachers complained about the return of his disruptive behavior. Daniel seemed unable to sit still and was inattentive. His teachers ultimately learned that he was no longer taking Ritalin.

School officials reported Daniel's parents to New Mexico's Department of Children, Youth and Families.Then a detective and social worker made a home visit.

"The detective told me if I did not medicate my son, I would be arrested for child abuse and neglect," Taylor said.

A spokesperson for New Mexico's Department of Children, Youth and Families told KOAT-TV that they could not comment on the case but confirmed that a social worker had visited the Taylors. John Francis, a detective for the Rio Rancho Department of Public Safety, said that Taylor was not threatened but told KOAT-TV that parents could be charged in situations like his.

"People can be charged with child abuse, child neglect or various other crimes involving a child," he said.

More Kids on Antidepressants

Taylor is among many parents facing a dilemma over whether to medicate children who suffer from mental disorders. A recent study by Express Scripts Inc., a medical benefits management company, found antidepressant use increased 49 percent among consumers younger than 18 between 1998 and 2002. Preschoolers up to age 5, the study found, were the fastest-growing users of prescription antidepressants.

...


For a little background, I was considered a problem child. This should come to no suprise to any reader of Justice/Public Safety, but I mention it because it is relavent. My school demanded that my parents take me to a doctor and have me put on ritalin. Fortunately for me, I believe, both my parents and my family doctor refused. At that time, the school system had no legal basis for involving child protective services in private medical decicions between parents and doctors. The truth is that I did no drugs in high school at all, rather I was nothing but bored and unhappy. A bored and unhappy teenager is likely to get into mischief, and I was no exception. In fact I look back with pride on some of the harmless pranks I pulled, such as the fake LSD freak out in front of the school at lunchtime and sneaking the skeleton from biology into the principal's office and dressing it up in all the bric-a-brac from the principal's alma matter.

This is not to say that some people are not in genuine need of medicine therapy, and that behavior modification drugs such as ritalin have no valid medical use. Far from it. Also, these drugs can be habit forming and can cause symptoms of physical and psychological withdrawal in some people. Doctor's warn patients that the best way to cease taking these drugs is a gradual scale back, not cold turkey. However, this reaction is highly dependent on the individual and does not occur in all cases. All this having been said, however, I believe that these medicines are being far over-prescribed. Though over prescription of these drugs does not have the same danger as does over prescription of antibiotics, it has led to problems and in some cases I believes caused more problems than cured.

However, until recently I had never heard of parents being threatened with criminal charges for going against their doctor's wishes. Certianly no one is in favor of child neglect to say nothing of child abuse, but to me the situation has ventured into a Huxley-like Brave New World in which ritalin and other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are not for bio-psychiatry but purely as "Soma." Who is it that is ultimately reponsible for children? The parents. Not the school board, and not a clinical psychiatrist.

I do not believe second guessing your doctor should be a crime. In cases where medication is required to sustain life I feel differently, of course. I have little patience for people such as Jehovah's Witnesses who believe blood transfusions are evil and deny their children care. However, I still believe ultimately reponsibility belongs with the parent, and this relationships should not be casually set aside.

[boobooday]

1. These drugs are way overused

To make up for a lack of teachers, and the huge numbers of children in the classroom, and the desire of some to "standardize" every damn thing our children do.

I have resisted, all my son's life, attempts by various "professionals" to give him behavior-altering drugs. He has been diagnosed as ADD/ADHD, but when he is not in the typically chaotic large classroom setting, he does fine. He has never caused harm to another person, or animal, or purposely disrupted a classroom. I really think it is outrageous to throw these drugs at our children, when there is little scientific evidence of their effectiveness, and a lot of reason to doubt it. And what does it mean for our children, if they have to be drugged into obedience in order to "fit in?" Where do they go as adults? Are they condemned to taking these drugs for life?

The whole thing is sick and Orwellian. ALL parents should seriously question the prescribing of psycho-pharmaceuticals to our children. I'm sure that only the tiniest minority actually need them. The thought that one of these "professionals" who suggested drugs for my son, which I refused, could report me for child abuse is absolutely absurd. Thank God he's almost 18 now, and we've worked through every problem with intensive and honest discussion. He's doing okay, and soon I will be free from the fear of prosecution for not drugging him!

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[Maddy McCall]

2. And, trust me, he will excel in college, where he will be more free...

to express himself than he ever was in 12 years of grade school.

[Liberal Classic]

4. This part really raised a red flag for me

Preschoolers up to age 5, the study found, were the fastest-growing users of prescription antidepressants.

Fastest growing? Is ritalin the cure for the terrible twos? Most drugs do not have experimental trials on children for the obvious safety reasons but a lot of the time a drug which works on an adult will have unpredictable results on a child.

Also, how is a doctor supposed to get an accurate diagnosis from a child up to the age of five? We're not talking about a scraped knee. Diagnoses of hyperactivity are made through interviewing the patient, getting them to describe how they feel and what motivates them.

I'm trying to imagine a clinical psychiatrist interviewing a precocious child:

Doctor: Tell me do you feel nervous?

Child: NO!

Doctor: Do you feel happy?

Child: NO!

Doctor: Do you feel sad?

Child: NO!

Doctor: Do you feel angry?

Child: NO!

Doctor: This child needs SSRI medications.

[mopinko]

5. adhd also

is frequently comorbid with bi-polar. use of both antidepressants and stimulants in children that are actually bipolar can and does have tragic consequences. (it is my suspicion that many of the prozac suicides in kids are actually undiagnosed bipolar. never heard of any investigation of this.)

[mopinko]

3. hot button for me

boy, i could go on and on. i have a bipolar teen. she was terribly harmed by sloppy prescribing by stupid doctors. we are lucky she did not succeed in her suicide attempts. i made a decision to disregard medical advise. it was one of the hardest thing i ever did. i was aware that it could be viewed as medical neglect. fortunately we now have docs that we agree with, and she is doing better.
but, my reason for putting in my 2 cents here is to say that until you have been through it, you think that these "professionals" can and will help you when you have a kid with problems. but it's a crap shoot. i have no doubt about which view would prevail in court, tho.
big brother raises his ugly head again.

[Liberal Classic]

6. Doctor's are highly dedicated, hardworking, intelligent people

And most people have a great deal of respect for doctors, and the medical community at large. But that's one of the reasons it takes so much courage to say "no, I think you're wrong." I'd never thought that doing so could be a crime.

[mopinko]

7. the thing about these drugs, tho

is that there is very little empirical, long term research on their use in kids. the honest docs will tell you that they don't really know. and mental illness in kids is SSSSOOOOO very hard to diagnose and treat.

[Liberal Classic]

8. I wholeheartedly agree

How does one prove that their child has normal brain chemistry? It is no where as easy as proving that your child is not a diabetic.

[mosin]

9. Thanks for posting the article.

Stories like this make me angry. My wife and I are already concerned about our kids starting in the Cincinnati public schools. Now we have something else to worry about.

[Liberal Classic]

10. You're welcome.

Fortunately threats of child abuse charges as in this article are rare. I've only heard of it happening a couple of times, and usually public pressure causes the authorities to back down. I do believe you should be hesitant to have these medicines administered to your children without a second, third, and fourth opinion. The other thing to worry about is now that diagnoses of hyperactivity are common, drugs like ritalin are traded among children in school like so many baseball cards.

[TexasMexican]

11. Our society is drugging kids...

way too goddamn much.

[Liberal Classic]

12. It also sends mixed messages

Stay off the wacky weed, but here take these pills.

[NorthernSpy]

13. especially when you consider that...

... "those pills" are amphetamines and amphetamine analogs: very habit-forming, very hard to put down, and very marketable to ones classmates when one gets a little older (kids have been known to sell or trade their meds).

Yup, knocking weed while turning 'em on to speed...


Mary

[Liberal Classic]

14. And sell them they do

My significant other works in a school, and tells me the problem is worse than anyone wants to admit.