The New York Times reported on May 10, 2007 that “when Anya Bailey developed an eating disorder after her 12th birthday, her mother took her to a psychiatrist at the University of Minnesota who prescribed a powerful antipsychotic drug called Risperdal.” Risperdal is one of a class of drugs called “atypical antipsychotics." It was created to treat schizophrenia, and when used as intended, it may produce beneficial results. This drug has not been approved by the FDA to treat eating disorders, but a common side effect is an increase in appetite. Thus, Anya’s doctor prescribed it for an “off-label” use.
Unfortunately, like all of the typical and atypical antipsychotics, Risperdal has many other side effects that can be very painful to patients. Anya has suffered from a painful and disfiguring condition called "dystonia," that has seriously compromised the quality of her life. Typical and atypical antipsychotics can be dangerous for use in children and also in frail elders.
In fact,
Risperdal was a key factor in the death of my mother, a frail 84-year-old woman,
in 2000. This drug—known to be dangerous for the elderly—was prescribed are a
result of misdiagnosis. She died only 65 days later. According
to the NY Times article, in 2006, the FDA received reports linking an antipsychotic to the
deaths of at least 29 children and to serious side effects in 165 more children.
These reports show a huge increase in drug mishaps compared to the year 2000.
Because reports of adverse drug reactions are voluntary, one could assume that
these numbers are only the tip of the iceberg. The New York Times article examines
general trends in the use, often off-label, of atypical antipsychotics in
children and links the use to payments from drug companies to doctors. Because
Minnesota is the one state that requires disclosure of drug industry payments to
doctors, the article focuses on Medicaid data from Minnesota between 2000 and
2005 Among the Times'
findings: —Payments by drug companies to
Minnesota psychiatrists for speaking engagements and other activities rose
sixfold from 2000 to 2005, while during the same period, prescriptions of
antipsychotics to children in the state's Medicaid program rose ninefold,
—Psychiatrists who received $5000 or
more/year from manufacturers of atypical antipsychotics on average wrote three
times as many prescriptions for those drugs in children as those who received
less.. —Psychiatrists received a median of
$1750 each from industry from 2000 to 2005, more than any other medical
specialty in Minnesota. —The cost to the state of
antipsychotic drugs used in children was 14 times higher in 2005 ($7.1 million)
compared to 2000 $521,000). Steven Hyman, former
director of National Institute of Mental Health was quoted by the Times as
follows: "There's an irony that psychiatrists ask patients to have insights into
themselves, but we don't connect the wires in our own lives about how money is
affecting our profession and putting our patients at risk." Parents need to become
better informed about diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in their children.
Common today are diagnoses of bi-polar disease and autism. Psychotropic drugs
are often prescribed for these children. Second opinions should be sought, and
parents should become educated as to the potential for side effects so that they
can give informed consent when a doctor prescribes medication for their
child. You may read the entire New York Times article "Psychiatrists,
Children and Drug Industry’s Role" here.
When my brilliant youngest child was 5 a doctor (okay, he wasn't REALLY a doctor, we didn't know it but he'd moved to our state from another state where he'd lost his license to practice medicine) met with my busy boy for half an hour and declared him to be hyperactive. He prescribed ritalin, which, twenty years ago, was just coming into popularity. A year later, my son passed out. He'd quit eating, of course, because he was on speed. We took him off the ritalin.
My son just graduated from college. Top art school in the United States. His senior year, he had a one roommate, a beautiful, brilliant kid who could do just about anything if it had "creative" labeled on it. He looked awfully thin. He never slept. He was pretty disorganized. He was addicted to ritalin, which he'd been on since . . . oh, about the same age we took my son off the stuff.
The dumbing of America. The loss of our beautiful, brilliant children. Whose idea WAS this, anyway?
Posted by: Dawn Elaine Bowie, Esq. | July 14, 2008 at 10:05 PM