Major Problems In Illinois With Foster Kids, Psych Meds
The Chicago Tribune had a short piece a couple of weeks ago detailing that hundreds of foster kids in the Illinois state system were winding up on psych meds without consent and without approval of the state program. That’s apparently an improvement over a few years ago when many more kids were getting them without consent. Even more stunning is that 9 percent of foster kids in Illinois have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and methinks those can’t be all troubled teens (the paper doesn’t get at how young some of the kids are).
“‘This is a really concerning statistic,’ said Dr. Michael Naylor, a University of Illinois at Chicago psychiatrist who reviews psychotropic medicine regimens for the state Department of Children and Family Services. Naylor said he worries that drug firms’ marketing efforts are driving the diagnoses.”
No kidding. In other news, the paper found than about 10 percent of the 3,564 wards getting psych meds were taking four or more medications.
This sounds like what has been cropping up in Florida, New York and other states. And it pretty much needs to stop.
Related posts:
- Family Docs Write Most Rxs For Psych Meds
- Researchers Ignore Problems With Meds In Early Deaths, Blame Smoking, No Exercise
- Animal Study Finds Psych Meds Given To Young Create Psychiatric Disorders In Later Life
- Study: Medicaid Kids Get Antipsychotics At Four Times The Rate Of Privately-Insured Kids
- Survey: Americans More Accepting Of Psych Meds Than In Past
Posted in Furious Seasons