Americas Poor Children Likelier To Get Antipsychotics
A front page article in The New York Times raises the long-overdue alarms about the forced drugging of American children--in particular poor children who are condemned to ingest toxic neuroleptics (a.k.a. 'atypical antipsychotics) at a rate four times higher than children whose parents have private insurance.
Wikepedia definition of poison: "In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism."
These drugs' toxic debilitating effects are clinically measurable and demonstrable in children's impaired biological functions (cardiovascular, hormonal, metabolic, gastrointestinal) and damaged organs (liver, heart, and rain) not to speak of their adverse effects on children's mental and psychological well-being.
The only unknown factor is how long it will take for these drugs' toxic effects to cause a particular child severe, irreversible damage.
"Some experts say they are stunned by the disparity in prescribing patterns. But others say it reinforces previous indications, and their own experience, that children with diagnoses of mental or emotional problems in low-income families are more likely to be given drugs than receive family counseling or psychotherapy."
Of note, as the Times reports, "Part of the reason is insurance reimbursements, as Medicaid often pays much less for counseling and therapy than private insurers do."
This points to the (perhaps) unintended, but likely catastrophic consequences of a "public insurance option"--one that fails to rein in irresponsible clinicians who have financial ties to drug manufacturers. The FDA's failure to restrict the use of toxic, harm producing prescription drugs whose clinical efficacy is a matter of heated debate--coupled with the agency's recent irresponsible approval of these drugs for use in teens--without evidence of long-term safety usage--demonstrates a colossal disregard for America's vulnerable children who are relegated as sacrificial lambs.
The Times quotes one of the leading American child psychiatrists who suggests that children on Medicaid who are being prescribed poison at quadruple the rate that other American children are, "are getting better treatment."
"Maybe Medicaid kids are getting better treatment," said Dr. Gabrielle Carlson, a child psychiatrist and professor at the Stony Brook School of Medicine. "If it helps keep them in school, maybe it's not so bad."
That encapsulates the perverse culture of psychiatry. Its leading "experts" maintain that disastrous treatment produced (iatrogenic) outcomes-- such as, drug-induced diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hyperprolactemia / gynecomastia (male enlarged breasts) *-- are actually desirable outcomes from "better treatment."
What the Times did not disclose are Dr. Carlson's longtime financial ties to the manufacturers of psychotropic drugs:
Gabrielle A. Carlson, M.D. Director, Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Stony Brook University School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY
Consultant: Eli Lilly, Janssen Pharmaceutica, Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., Pfizer
Grants: Abbott Laboratories, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson, Otsuka
Speaker's Bureau: Abbott, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Johnson & Johnson
See: http://www.softconference.com/aacap/generic.asp?ID=415
Advisory Board: Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (CHADD), Eli Lilly, Otsuka, Shire.
Honorarium and Expenses: American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Support: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Otsuka.
http://www.aacap.org/cs/expert_interviews/disclosures
AHRP has the NYT piece, continue reading here
Thank You AHRP
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