Gabriel Myers (Credit: Family Photo)
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (CBS/WFOR)
The apparent suicide of 7-year-old boy Gabriel Myers, who was taking
several psychiatric medications, has led to the introduction of a bill
in the Florida legislature, which would assure that powerful mental
health drugs dispensed to Florida foster care children would be more
closely monitored.
The proposal is largely based on the findings of a task force formed after Gabriel locked himself in a bathroom and hung himself with a shower cord last April.
Gabriel
was on Seroquel - used to treat bipolar disorder - and other
psychiatric drugs linked by federal regulators to potentially dangerous
side effects, including suicide, but the risks may not have been
adequately communicated to his foster parents.
The drugs are not approved for use by young children. But doctors often prescribe them 'off-label,' for purposes for which the drugs have not been approved.
Sen. Ronda Storms said prescribed drugs have replaced talk therapy and are over-prescribed to subdue unruly children. The measure would require an independent review before psychiatric drugs can be administered to children 10 or younger.
"All you do is mask the behavioral problems by treating him (psychotropically). All you're doing is putting him in a chemical straight jacket so that he can't act out so you can get him to 18 and dump him into adulthood and that's not acceptable," said Storms to CBS affiliate WFOR.
Gabriel's death prompted a statewide investigation that found 13 percent, or 2,699, of all foster children are on such drugs, according to a Department of Children and Families(DCF) study. That compares with only an estimated 4 percent to 5 percent of children in the general population.
Child advocates say the prescribing doctors often lack pertinent information on the child, including medical history and behavioral background. The bill requires caregivers and doctors to report any adverse side effects, which DCF must document.
The bill also requires children to have a mental health treatment plan that includes counseling for children prescribed such drugs.
Story Contributed by CBS Affiliate WFOR >> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-7-year-old-gabriel-myers-suicide-fla-bill-looks-to-tighten-access-to-psychiatric-drugs/ © 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The proposal is largely based on the findings of a task force formed after Gabriel locked himself in a bathroom and hung himself with a shower cord last April.
 |
| Gabriel Myers (Credit: Family Photo) |
The drugs are not approved for use by young children. But doctors often prescribe them 'off-label,' for purposes for which the drugs have not been approved.
Sen. Ronda Storms said prescribed drugs have replaced talk therapy and are over-prescribed to subdue unruly children. The measure would require an independent review before psychiatric drugs can be administered to children 10 or younger.
"All you do is mask the behavioral problems by treating him (psychotropically). All you're doing is putting him in a chemical straight jacket so that he can't act out so you can get him to 18 and dump him into adulthood and that's not acceptable," said Storms to CBS affiliate WFOR.
Gabriel's death prompted a statewide investigation that found 13 percent, or 2,699, of all foster children are on such drugs, according to a Department of Children and Families(DCF) study. That compares with only an estimated 4 percent to 5 percent of children in the general population.
Child advocates say the prescribing doctors often lack pertinent information on the child, including medical history and behavioral background. The bill requires caregivers and doctors to report any adverse side effects, which DCF must document.
The bill also requires children to have a mental health treatment plan that includes counseling for children prescribed such drugs.
Story Contributed by CBS Affiliate WFOR >> http://www.cbsnews.com/news/after-7-year-old-gabriel-myers-suicide-fla-bill-looks-to-tighten-access-to-psychiatric-drugs/ © 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
[sidebar: How do we know when we've gone too far in the criminally insane behavior of CONSUMERISM? The future is nothing but, a child that hangs their life from a cord, dangling in a bathroom from a shower curtain rod that can hold a small 7 year old long enough to snuff all breathing from the physical body and the EMOTIONAL-SPIRITUAL BODIES? Where do the energies of all the spirits go?
May this small child, Gabriel Meyers, Rest In Peace.
& TO THOSE THAT DO THIS TO CHILDREN ~ MAY ALL THE TOXICOLOGY KILLING MACHINES, TRANSGENDER BENDERS - TRANSSEXUAL ABOMINATIONS MONSTER CO-CREATORS, CRIMINALLY INSANE EXPERIMENTERS ON HUMANS ... THEE, ALL, SHALL GO WHERE THE DEATHLESS
DEATH IS FOREVER!]
DEATHLESS DEATH. That is what the OLDER 'TRANSSEXUAL' HUMANS SAY. That's what the most vile commodity sold to humans is about - STEALING THE SOUL!? MAY GABRIEL MEYERS SOUL NOT BELONG TO THE EVIL THAT SOLD HIM DRUGS. MAY THE VILE EVIL EXPERIENCE THE DEATHLESS DEATH FOREVER, AMEN!
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