4 year old's overdose raises questions

I read about this on a different blog. The author had a very interesting point: Before minors undergo psychiatric evaluation and diagnosis, their parents should be required to do so. I agree with this.

It was obvious that something wasn't right in this household. And, I am downright shocked at a physician prescribed adult meds for bipolar disorder in a 2 year old. Yet another example of doctors not practicing evidence based medicine.

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When we were starting the testing process for our son, our children's hospital wouldn't see him until he was seven. The doctor who prescribed those meds should be held responsible for that girl's death, as well as the parents. Things like this make me realize how lucky we were that Cincinnati Children's Hospital has a team of physicians, psychiatrists, and specialists that work with every child who comes through the Developmental Disabilities department. Parents should never rely on single opinions when it comes to the health and safety of their children, and especially when psychotropic drugs are involved.

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I just read the full story via the link on USA Today and I'll be honest, I had to stop reading, my heart was hurting so bad. To imagine this little girl the night before she died, knocking softly on her parents door, calling out for weakly for her mommy, only to have her father yell at her to go back to bed, just makes me sick. What BASTARDS. I think 2 years old is a little young to be diagnosing any mental illness, but furthermore the child didn't seem to exhibit the behavior of the so-called illness anyhow. It seems more like the parents wanted docile robots who didn't do anything but sleep - who expects a child to go to bed at 5 pm? I think both the parents AND the doctor are at fault here, the doctor for making the diagnosis and medicating a child that didn't really seem to need it, and the parents for continually upping the dosage to the point where this girl got sick and died. Why do parents have children and then expect them not to be kids, and laugh and get into trouble and exhibit child-like behavior? I can only think that hopefully this little girl avoided years of trauma at their hands, but that doesn't make this story feel any better.

And yes, I agree 110% with Mamaloo: parents of kids being evaluated should be evaluated too. If a child of 2 is screwed up, it has to come from somewhere, and while there are chemical imbalances etc, there are also a lot of messed up people who shouldn't even be parents.

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I am not a psychiatrist or a professional in the mental health field but I would think, based on personal experience, that at 2yoa it would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to diagnose a mental health disorder.

Mamaloo, why should parents have to undergo psychiatric testing in order to get their children tested. Just curious, you gave no reasoning behind the statement and I don't quite understand the insinuation.

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As I work to toward my degree, I agree with mamaloo. Parents absolutely should undergo testing, also. The reason being that much of the "symptoms" are passed on to the doctor through the parents -- without knowing the parents mental state there really is no way of knowing what they consider to be normal or if they are prone to exageration. Spending years on the adoption site, I have seen parents literally ban together to convince other parents that their normal childlike issues were really red flags for RAD and then once you get a list of "symptoms" it is very easy to see them everywhere.... then, while part of the issue may be the parent they then are blind and exagerating their childs symptoms in order to ignore their part in what is going on. Then they get other's sympathies...

Because of this it would be very hard, if not impossible... especially in children THIS young to get an accurate picture without first evaluating the parents. And it is much better to super safe than this sorry.


(Please note that I am not saying that all parents do this.. but the doctor should be required to at least evaluate and make sure-- because SOME people do it... and the child's welfare should be the utmost important issue.)

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Based on the underlying story, the parents did have all kinds of problems including mental illness. However, I don't see how it's practical (or necessarily ethical or legal) to treat a child differently because of her parents' problems. Unless we are saying mentally ill parents should not be allowed to raise their children, which is a whole different argument.

These people were totally messed up and killed their daughter through a series of acts and failures to act. Among other things, they way exceeded the prescribed dosages, and failed to take their child to the doctor when she was exhibiting obvious distress.

While it is pretty clear their actions caused their daughter's death, it is not clear that they realized they were endangering her life. I think there was a combination of low intelligence, poor education, mental illness, and selfishness here. They really should not have been allowed to raise kids. Probably the only thing that kept them from having the kids removed for abuse was the fact that they used drugs instead of beatings to control their kids.

The doctor may have been quick to diagnose and prescribe drugs, but this question has been investigated by other doctors and social workers, who did not find improper action on the part of the doctors.

I wonder how often messed-up parents are using drugs to control their kids like this. If this is not an isolated incident, I hope both doctors and social workers start looking more closely into these cases before any more kids get hurt.

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I have a 2 year old. Isn't every 2 year old ADD? Doesn't every 2 year old show signs of bipolar disorder? One minute they are happy, the next screaming for no apparent reason. It has been called "the terrible two's" forever. What is a medical professional thinking when trying to diagnose a 2 year old with ADD and bipolar disorder? He should lose his license at a minimum!!!

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