The New York Times (11/21, A13, Carey, Subscription Publication) reports, “Foster children are being prescribed cocktails of powerful antipsychosis drugs just as frequently as some of the most mentally disabled youngsters on Medicaid,” according to research appearing today in the journal Pediatrics.
The study “is the first to investigate how often youngsters in foster care are given two antipsychotic drugs at once, the authors said.” The medicines involved “include Risperdal [risperidone], Seroquel [quetiapine] and Zyprexa [olanzapine]…which were developed for schizophrenia.” The study, which analyzed Medicaid records on some 637,924 youngsters in foster care in an unnamed state in the Mid-Atlantic region, found that approximately two percent of children in foster care were on such medications, despite the fact that young children rarely suffer from either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.
Related Links:
– “Drugs Used for Psychotics Go to Youths in Foster Care,” Benedict Carey, New York Times, November 20, 2011.