Are Kids Overmedicated? Tonight on PBS

January 10, 2011

Posted by Mar Cabra

January 7, 2011

3:25pm

Antipsychotics are the top-selling class of drugs in the

United States, with sales of $14.6 billion in 2009 alone.

Their use in children and adolescents in the United States is

increasingly prevalent — and children in foster care are among

the most likely to be medicated.

A recent 16-state study from Rutgers University on the use of

antipsychotics in children and adolescents covered by Medicaid

found that foster children received antipsychotic medications

at a rate almost nine times that of other children covered by

Medicaid.

The high expenditure on antipsychotics and other psychotropic

drugs by the government has triggered a Government

Accountability Office investigation into their use in foster

care.

A segment on tonight's episode of Need to Know, produced by

myself, Fitzpatrick, and Shoshana Guy, investigates the

use and potential overuse of these medications on foster

children, with a special look at the State of Texas.

The program follows a 12-year-old in the process of being

adopted. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder by the age of

five. Just up to a few months ago, he was on five different

psychotropic drugs, including antipsychotic Zyprexa. Yet now

that he’s with his adoptive father, he’s been reduced to

taking just one drug, for Attention Deficit Hiperactivity

Disorder.

Our segment explores the question: why such a radical change?

The Need to Know segment airs tonight at

8:30 on WNET in New York; check local listings for the

broadcast in your area.

The project received support from The Nation Institute's

Investigative Fund, as well as the New York Chapter of the

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the

Stabile Center for Investigative Reporting.

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