Youths initially diagnosed with ADHD receive an array of medications

Mental Health

Youths initially diagnosed with ADHD receive an array of medications

Among children and adolescents newly diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), youths who were male, school-aged, white, living in rural areas, or under foster care were more likely to be treated with ADHD drugs (stimulants). In addition to these sociodemographic factors, provider specialty (primary care, psychiatry, neurology, other specialty) also influenced treatment, according to a team of researchers from the University of Florida and Rutgers University. Children diagnosed by psychiatrists were 42 percent less likely to receive ADHD drugs. However, they were more likely to receive other psychotropics than children diagnosed by primary care physicians, even after adjusting for other coexisting mental disorders.

Of the 26 percent of youths with both ADHD and other mental disorders, such as depression or bipolar disorder, close to a third used non-ADHD psychotropic medications. These patients were between 14 and 56 percent less likely to receive ADHD medications. The researchers also discovered that more than 25 percent of patients without other mental disorders received off-label psychotropic medications in their initial ADHD drug regimen. Antidepressants were the most common nonstimulant off-label drug class prescribed, along with atypical antipsychotics and anticonvulsants.

The study included 28,763 youths between the ages of 6 and 18 who were enrolled for at least 18 months in the Florida Medicaid fee-for-service program between 1994 and 2004. Because of the large size of the study sample, the researchers were able to examine psychotropic drug treatment in some less common coexisting mental disorders and also patterns of use among minority youth. For example, the researchers found that, contrary to previous research, Hispanics, not blacks, were the minority group least likely to receive drug treatment. The researchers call for more studies on psychotropic safety and efficacy, given the high prevalence of coexisting mental disorders, multidrug regimens, and off-label drug use among youth with ADHD. This study was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (HS16097).

See "Determinants of initial pharmacological treatment for youths with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder," by Chih-Ying Chen, M.H.A., Tobias Gerhard, Ph.D., and Almut G. Winterstein, Ph.D., in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology 2009, 19(2), pp. 187-195.

http://www.ahrq.gov/research/jan10/0110RA15.htm

FOSTER “MOM” THROWS 2 YO 5 FEET, JURY: NOT MURDER

FOSTER “MOM” THROWS 2 YO 5 FEET, JURY: NOT MURDER
Bill Medvecky-Free the FLDs Children
February 20, 2010 – 10:39 am

CPS AND CASA GET 7 (SEVEN) REPORTS THAT THE KID HAD INJURIES. THE EIGHTH REPORT PROVES TO BE THE MAGIC NUMBER, THE KID IS DEAD AFTER BEING THROWN ACROSS THE LIVING ROOM INTO A COFFEE TABLE.

THE PRIVATE (MONEY MAKING) AGENCY THAT PLACED THE CHILD IS STILL LICENSED AND RECEIVING CHILDREN TO PLACE IN FOSTER HOMES.

“MOMMY” WAS CONVICTED OF CHILD ABUSE AND MANSLAUGHTER, NOT MURDER.

“MOMMY” EXPLAINED THE DEATH THIS WAY:

a. SHE WAS BOUNCING ALIZE ON HER KNEE AND THE CHILD FELL, HITTING HER HEAD ON THE COFFEE TABLE.

b. THE CHILD FELL OUT OF THE CAR.

c. THE CHILD REFUSED TO TALK TO HER FOR A WEEK, AND SHE PUSHED THE CHILD BACKWARDS AND THE GIRL ACCIDENTALLY HIT HER HEAD ON THE COFFEE TABLE.

d. SHE LOST HER TEMPER AND THREW THE CHILD TO THE COUCH FROM ACROSS THE ROOM AND THE GIRL ACCIDENTALLY HIT HER HEAD ON THE COFFEE TABLE ON THE WAY TO THE COUCH.

I GUESS IT WAS THE KIDS FAULT FOR NOT BOUNCING OFF THE TABLE.

ALL PREVIOUS INJURIES TO THE CHILD WERE THE RESULT OF ACCIDENTS.

Bill | ANOTHER DEAD CHILD, Abuses of the State, CASA, DEAD CPS KIDS

http://www.flds.ws/

Medicaid Fraud Initiative Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children & Youth

Home
PsychRights' Medicaid Fraud Initiative Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children & Youth.
.Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/18/2010 - 04:54
Start: 02/24/2010 2:00 am
Timezone: America/New York
The International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology, Inc. is a nonprofit organization concerned with the increasing use of psychiatric drugs on children. The 2010 ICSPP Distinguished Lecture Series will begin Feb. 24 with a legal webinar presented by Attorney James Gottstein on PsychRights' Medicaid Fraud Initiative Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children & Youth.

The Initiative is based on the massive psychiatric drugging of America's children, particularly poor, disadvantaged children & youth through Medicaid and in foster care that is an unfolding public health catastrophe of massive proportions.

Webinar Presenters:
Attorney James Gottstein
Webinar URL:
PsychRights' Medicaid Fraud Initiative Against Psychiatric Drugging of Children & Youth.

http://www.webinarcentral.net/content/psychrights-medicaid-fraud-initiative-against-psychiatric-drugging-children-youth

Big Pharma researcher admits to faking dozens of research studies for Pfizer, Merck

Big Pharma researcher admits to faking dozens of research studies for Pfizer, Merck (opinion)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (

(NaturalNews) It's being called the largest research fraud in medical history. Dr. Scott Reuben, a former member of Pfizer's speakers' bureau, has agreed to plead guilty to faking dozens of research studies that were published in medical journals.

Now being reported across the mainstream media is the fact that Dr. Reuben accepted a $75,000 grant from Pfizer to study Celebrex in 2005. His research, which was published in a medical journal, has since been quoted by hundreds of other doctors and researchers as "proof" that Celebrex helped reduce pain during post-surgical recovery. There's only one problem with all this: No patients were ever enrolled in the study!

Dr. Scott Reuben, it turns out, faked the entire study and got it published anyway.

It wasn't the first study faked by Dr. Reuben: He also faked study data on Bextra and Vioxx drugs, reports the Wall Street Journal.

As a result of Dr. Reuben's faked studies, the peer-reviewed medical journal Anesthesia & Analgesia was forced to retract 10 "scientific" papers authored by Reuben. The Day of London reports that 21 articles written by Dr. Reuben that appear in medical journals have apparently been fabricated, too, and must be retracted.

After being caught fabricating research for Big Pharma, Dr. Reuben has reportedly signed a plea agreement that will require him to return $420,000 that he received from drug companies. He also faces up to a 10-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.

He was also fired from his job at the Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. after an internal audit there found that Dr. Reuben had been faking research data for 13 years. (http://www.theday.com/article/20100...)



Business as usual in Big Pharma
What's notable about this story is not the fact that a medical researcher faked clinical trials for the pharmaceutical industry. It's not the fact that so-called "scientific" medical journals published his fabricated studies. It's not even the fact that the drug companies paid this quack close to half a million dollars while he kept on pumping out fabricated research.

The real story here is that this is business as usual in the pharmaceutical industry.

Dr. Reuben's actions really aren't that extraordinary. Drug companies bribe researchers and doctors as a routine matter. Medical journals routinely publish false, fraudulent studies. FDA panel members regularly rely on falsified research in making their drug approval decisions, and the mainstream media regularly quotes falsified research in reporting the news.

Fraudulent research, in other words, is widespread in modern medicine. The pharmaceutical industry couldn't operate without it, actually. It is falsified research that gives the industry its best marketing claims and strongest FDA approvals. Quacks like Dr Scott Reuben are an important part of the pharmaceutical profit machine because without falsified research, bribery and corruption, the industry would have very little research at all.

Pay special attention to the fact that the Anesthesia & Analgesia medical journal gladly published Dr. Reuben's faked studies even though this journal claims to be a "scientific" medical journal based on peer review. Funny, isn't it, how such a scientific medical journal gladly publishes fraudulent research with data that was simply invented by the study author. Perhaps these medical journals should be moved out of the non-fiction section of university libraries and placed under science fiction.

Remember, too, that all the proponents of pharmaceuticals, vaccines and mammograms ignorantly claim that their conventional medicine is all based on "good science." It's all scientific and trustworthy, they claim, while accusing alternative medicine of being "woo woo" wishful thinking and non-scientific hype. Perhaps they should have a quick look in the mirror and realize it is their own system of quack medicine that's based largely on fraudulent research, bribery and corruption.

http://www.naturalnews.com/028194_Scott_Reuben_research_fraud.html

Foster mother guilty of child's death

Foster mother guilty of child's death
Published: 10:29 a.m., Friday, February 19, 2010

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado Springs jury convicted a foster mother of child abuse and reckless manslaughter in the death of a 2-year-old foster child.

Thirty-six-year-old Jules Lynn Cuneo had faced a first-degree murder charge, but a jury convicted her of the lesser charge Friday in the death of Alize Vick.

Prosecutors say Cuneo tossed Alize five feet across a living room, causing a fatal injury to Alize when she hit her head on a coffee table. Defense attorneys say investigators pressured an overly helpful Cuneo into making statements that weren't true.

The death prompted criticism of Colorado's foster care system.

___

Information from: KKTV-TV, http://www.kktv.com/
http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/article/Foster-mother-guilty-of-child-s-death-371825.php

Bill focuses on improving foster care

Bill focuses on improving foster care
StoryDiscussionBy JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Friday, February 19, 2010 8:11 pm

Kathy Campbell .
..A Lincoln senator would like to see Nebraska adopt three federal requirements to improve foster care.

Sen. Kathy Campbell told the Legislature's Judiciary Committee a bill (LB971) would ensure relatives are notified within 15 days of removal of a child from his or her home.

It would also require reasonable efforts to place siblings together, or at least make sure they can spend time together frequently if not placed together.

And it would provide plans for children who are leaving foster care.

Maintaining extended family connections is critical to the well-being of children, said Sarah Helvey, attorney with Nebraska Appleseed.

Transition plans when a foster child turns 16 also are important, she said.

Three in 10 homeless people in the country report a history of being in foster care, Helvey said. Former foster children also experience a high rate of unemployment, low college attendance and low graduation rates, she said.

Linda Cox, with the Foster Care Review Board, said that when a relative is not located until late in the case, children end up being removed from foster families with whom they have bonded to be placed with relatives who are sometimes strangers.

The bill also would speed identification of fathers.

In a review of children younger than 6 in 2008, paternity had not been established for 282 children -- nearly a fourth of those reviewed.

Children cannot be adopted until paternity is resolved, Cox said.

Regarding placement with siblings, Vicky Weisz, a research psychology professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said anyone who has listened to youths in foster care talk about their experiences quickly learns that separation and loss of contact with siblings is the biggest loss they experience.

"Many youth understand why they needed to be separated from their parents, but they do not understand why they also lost their brothers and sisters," Weisz said.

Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoung@journalstar.com.

http://journalstar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_86bc7c04-1dc5-11df-8cd4-001cc4c002e0.html

Innocence Lost

Updated: Feb 17, 2010 11:01 PM EST
Video Gallery
Newschannel 6 Exclusive: Innocence Lost
8:50
Over the past six years, an average of five children have died from abuse or neglect every day. Most of those deaths happened right here in the Lone Star state. Each year for the past seven, more than 200 children died from abuse or neglect in Texas, and a recent report shows nearly half of them belonged to families that had a history with Texas Child Protective Services.

Two of those families and tragic deaths happened this past year, right here in Texoma. In this News Channel 6 exclusive, Lindsey Rogers learned about the innocence lost, spoke to family survivors and CPS to find out how to fix the system and why you play such an important role in saving these children.

"Who would they cling to the most? Their mother, and then their mother turns out to be the person who is supposed to take care of them who is supposed to protect and love them is their tormentor," said Shelley Blevins, who is the grandmother of a child who died as a result of abuse.

In 2008, more than 770 children were confirmed victims of abuse or neglect right here in Wichita County. In 77 percent of Texas cases that end in death, the parent is the killer. Five-year-old Kati Earnest fell victim to this statistic. She had no one to speak up for her and now she's no longer here.

"She was so full of life, she wasn't shy at all," Blevins said.

Blevins is Kati's grandmother and mother of Kati's father, Nelson Cardwell, Jr. Blevins said that Kati's parents struggled for years to agree on a visitation schedule, and the two families have always had a strained relationship. November of 2008 was the last time Blevins saw her granddaughter.

"She said 'well, don't go,' and I said, 'it's OK, because I'm going to see you now,' and I just grabbed her and I held her and she wrapped her arms around my neck and she kissed me on the cheek and whispered, 'I miss you' and I said, 'I miss you too and I will see you very, very soon.' That's the last time I saw her," Blevins said.

Eight months later, on a day most of us celebrate with cookouts and fireworks, Kati's short life came to a tragic end. She was killed on the fourth of July and, according to investigators, at the hands of her mother.

Kristina Earnest brought her five-year-old daughter to the Wilbarger General Hospital just before midnight, claiming she had found her face down in a bathtub of water. But the 40 to 50 bruises on little Kati's body told a different story. Kati was pronounced dead in the first half hour after arriving at the hospital. The autopsy showed her cause of death was blunt force trauma to the abdomen. Kristina later admitted to striking her little girl five times with a closed fist, at a force great enough to split Kati's spleen in two.

Kati's grandmother remembers the phone call that forever changed her life.

"She just kept saying 'no ma'am, you don't understand, she's dead.' And then everything went a little black for me and then my son came over and there were just no words to describe how my son felt, and how I felt and how I still feel today," Blevins said.

Kristina and her boyfriend Tommy Castro now both sit behind bars in the Wilbarger County Jail, just a few hundred yards from the very apartment where Kati was brutally murdered. When Kati died, Kristina, originally from Amarillo, had just moved her three children to Vernon to live with Castro.

Blevins said, "I can't even wrap my mind around what they did. I don't understand. I can't comprehend it."

Court records obtained by Newschannel 6 show Kristina Earnest had two CPS investigations involving her three children prior to Kati's death. One of physical neglect of Kati and her younger sister in Randall county. The other for neglectful supervision and physical abuse of her son. Both investigations were ruled out because CPS could not find evidence to take action.

Lee Ann Marsh is the former assistant district attorney for CPS cases in Wichita County. She now works as a private attorney who represents families that need assistance with CPS cases, so she knows all sides of the system well.

"Younger children generally don't have the voice and means to communicate if something is wrong in the home. They can't tell you, hey, mom and dad are hitting me or mom and dad are sexually abusing me or dad's coming into my bed every night. They don't have the ability to do that," Marsh said.

The night of Kati's death, it was found her one-year-old brother also showed visible signs of abuse. He is now in the custody of Kristina's sister.

"There are a couple of red flags in this scenario. Number one, they were moving frequently so you don't have any one particular local agency seeing what's going on. Number two, several reports, where there's smoke there's fire," Marsh said.

Those we talked with in the industry have concerns the cracks in the system are with the Department of Family and Protective Services Family Based Safety Services program. Safety services workers monitor troubled families to make sure they are participating in parenting classes or counseling. The agency's goal is to remove fewer children from their homes. Despite the hundreds of additional staff to the state program in the past few years, it's development has resulted in a rising case-load for safety services staff.

Marsh said, "We're failing in our follow through with these families because maybe we need to watch them longer after we put children back in the home. See if we can do follow up to make sure after we return kids to home. They're not reverting to old ways in six or eight months or a year. Maybe we need to follow up better."

Less than two months after Kati's death yet another tragedy struck -- this time in Wichita Falls. Police say Benjamin Jerome Prince killed his toddler, Tremain Prince, striking him several times with a handgun and claw hammer. According to investigators, he also shot and killed his brother John Prince. Tremain's family too, had a history with CPS.

Last April, CPS received a complaint call regarding physical abuse allegations at the home. However, there was no investigation. We wanted to know why, so we pushed Department of Family and Protective Services official Marleah Eisner for answers.

"CPS workers receive phone calls frequently that really don't meet that mandate so we're charged with protecting the unprotected and we're not obligated to interfere in families lives when abuse or neglect has not occurred and often times we won't have the information sent to us that meets that criteria. In this particular case, the information we received did not meet the level of abuse or neglect as defined in the Texas Family Code. Therefore, an investigation was not launched," Eisner said.

CPS followed its policies and did all they could given the circumstances. So, where do we go from here, how can we prevent this from happening to other children?

"CPS, everyone I've met and worked with they really truly are trying their best I think it's up to neighbors and friends and family not to be afraid to call in if they suspect something. The report is anonymous and it can not come back at you and say you filed falsely. If you suspect something, call it in. It does take a village but it takes a village who cares not just a village who wants to look the other way," Marsh said. That is one grandmother's plea.

"When you beat a child, they scream. It's not the same scream as a tantrum or a sick child. It is a different kind of scream so if you are hearing things or see things then do something about it. Don't look the other way, because I'm sure a lot of people do that and you Just can't because it's somebody's granddaughter or little girl or boy and you might just save their life," Blevins said.

Below are links to the arrest warrant and other documents concerning these cases.

Arrest Warrant (page 1)

Arrest Warrant (page 2)

Petitioner's Affidavit (page 1)

Petitioner's Affidavit (page 2)

Petitioner's Affidavit (page 3)

Petitioner's Affidavit (page 4)

Petitioner's Affidavit (page 5)

Petitioner's Affidavit (page 6)

C.P.S. Documentation


http://www.newschannel6now.com/Global/story.asp?S=12000616