Girl's Overdose Death Raises Questions

Major problem in the US, IMHO. So many good kids are thrown onto medication without due reason.

This is so completely tragic. These parents obviously were not interested in caring for a child and so they medicated her to keep her quiet and compliant. And the doctor should be disciplined as well. It's strikingly obvious that the rate of children diagnosed with Bipolar has jumped so drastically that it cannot be explained by either an increase in the prevalence of the disease or by past misdiagnosis. Doctors, like parents, have become lazy. Instead of making parents consider and work at behavior modification therapy, they are just throwing very dangerous drugs at children.

Even though I have worked in a medical setting and also public schools, I am always appalled when the ball gets dropped on reporting issues and following up. There is such a focus on making sure false accusations are not made and keeping the family together that there will always be children like Rebecca who have to pay the price. A couple of issues that really bother me is that diagnosis is generally made based on observations by adults. For a school age child, this includes teachers but for one as young as Rebecca, the decision is based almost exclusively on what the parents report. Another problem that truly bothers me is that medication is prescribed but what is done to teach the child and educate the parents and caretakers on behavior modification? I feel that it should be manditory for any child and the parents, to receive constant counseling on behavior modification. I have seen positive results when a child is worked with to recognize their own behavior and given the tools to adapt. But this must be consistent and on going to obtain positive results.

The sadness I see in this story is the fact that people took their two year to a psych who prescribed drugs to a toddler. Two year olds are not developed. Two year olds have to be dealt with, not drugged. The mindset of a society that so casually hands out drugs for every conceivable incident as the magic cure all pill seems like a society duped by the snake charmers, the drug companies. Being a little older these days I finally went to doctors the last couple years for general checkups since I'm mid range fifties and came out with four prescriptions, one that I actually use. The other conditions are just wear and tear, treatable with diet and awareness. The doctors are educated pill pushers. Sense to learn to deal with life cannot be prescribed. Throwing these parents in jail will probably make others feel better but won't stop repeats. The professional aspect of diagnosing toddlers as if they were adults is the crime of not being able to deal with life as it is which also is not a jail sentence. Awareness to see reality is what needs to be taught from the start.

Why are we so quick to medicate? When I was growing up (and I am not that old), there was no such thing as ADD. I think as a society we are too quick to diagnose illness rather than deal with the problem.

At one point, the little girl knocked weakly on her parents' bedroom door and softly called for her mommy, but Michael Riley opened the door a crack and yelled at her to go back to her room, Williams said.

This is so heartbreaking. That kid needed help, not drugs.

Parents, please care for your children.