PhRMA and Physicians Engaged in Medical Child Abuse

The medical child abuse concept, as defined by Drs. Carole Jenny and Thomas Roesler, states that parents are the sole perpetrators in these injurious pursuits. Medical child abuse is rampant in the U.S. but not by the usual suspects.

Medical Child Abuse Perpetrators

All aspects of medical treatment are controlled by physicians but inexplicably these professionals are never indicted, prosecuted or penalized when their malpractice is exposed in medical child abuse trials or custody hearings. When medical child abuse allegations are raised in criminal hearings the surgeon and the prescription provider should be facing the jury along with the child's parents or custodian. The American Medical Association has been silent on the subject of physicians preying on children.

Rebecca Riley Medical Child Abuse Case History

The Rebecca Riley medical child abuse trial covered by 60 Minutes is just one case reference. Rebecca's 2006 death was caused by a drug overdose. This four-year old was on physician-recommended multi-psychotropic medications. Her parents were convicted of murder, her physician, psychiatrist Dr. Kayoko Kifuji of Tufts-New England Medical Center, was not on the indictment.

Through her lawyer, Dr. Kifuji said that she was following standard medical protocol. The drugs given to Rebecca were prescribed off label. This means that Rebecca was subjected to potentially harmful experimental products. Dr. Kifuji ordered the drugs but it is not known whether she explained to the parents that Rebecca's medications were not authorized for use in children.

Joshua Parker et al Medical Child Abuse Case History

An another example is the Kate Parker criminal indictment. The mother has been with charged with medical child abuse yet her son's surgeon, Monica Wehby of Legacy Health is not listed as a defendant in the upcoming trial. According to Kate Parker's November 12, '09 diary post, Dr. Wehby had performed tethered cord surgery on Joshua, one of Ms. Parker's children, five times. The cost of this procedure is reported to be $23,000. Dr. Wehby is one of fifteen physicians mentioned in Mrs. Parker's journals. The list of medical providers can be found here and the indictment here . Mrs. Parker's journals provide details regarding Joshua, Bethany and Hannah's surgeries and prescription regimens.

Justina Pelletier Medical Child Abuse Case History

Allegations of medical child abuse outside criminal proceedings are reviewed by juvenile judges and normally their dispositions are confidential. This court-mandated secrecy policy allows juvenile judges to generally avoid scrutiny, shields physicians' reputations but does nothing to protect the alleged victim's interests.

The Justina Pelletier custody dispute is an illustration of untoward behavior on the part of Dr. Alice Newton and Judge Joseph Johnston . Justina Pelletier was a captive of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families from February 2013 to June 2014. Boston Children's Hospital according to The Boston Globe received more than $400,000 for its medical child abuse intervention.

Once Justina became a ward of the state, her medical care was provided by Boston Children's Hospital. Justina's BCH physicians were allowed to change her diagnosis from physical to mental and treat her accordingly. Justina's ordeal has prompted four members of the House of Representatives to introduce legislation that would end the practice of using foster children in clinical trials that offer no benefit to the enrollee. If enacted Justina's Law [H.R.4989] would:

prohibit Federal funding of any treatment or research in which a ward of the State is subjected to greater than minimal risk to the individual's health with no or minimal prospect of direct benefit.

The proposed bill, although a positive step, avoids the question of the propriety of using foster children in medical research.

Children's Psychotropic Drug Research

For decades news outlets, child advocacy organizations, some mental health care professionals, and the Government Accountability Office have criticized the extensive use of psychotropic medications in children but the number of minors under the influence continue to increase, especially for those under state custody. Congressional investigators and other concerned parties cannot explain why foster children are far more likely to receive psychotropic drugs than children in the general population.

One possible explanation: Foster children are the primary resource for PhRMA's medical experiments. Because the conscripted minors do not react positively in clinical trial environments clinicians may apply psychotropic drugs to help control behavior during the course of the project.

Children's clinical trials are punitive: the test subjects, generally held in medical facilities, are forced to ingest under-study drugs and undergo blood/urine extraction procedures. Sometimes the children are fitted with gastrostomy tubes to facilitate the drug delivery system.

Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, stated in reference to the April 2014 paper, " Atypical Antipsychotic Use Among Medicaid-Insured Children and Adolescents: Duration, Safety, and Monitoring Implications ," the following:

This study adds critical hard data to our understanding of a persistent and unacceptable trend in pediatric psychiatry. Our poorest, most vulnerable children, lacking access to evidence-based care, are receiving potentially harmful treatment with little oversight.

GAO officials testified in late 2011 that physicians treating foster children were placing their patients on concomitant prescriptions of five or more drugs, were exceeding dosage guidelines and were authorizing psychotic products in children under the age of one. [p. 2 of the GAO Report]

In May 2014 the CDC advised that more than 10,000 Medicaid-insured toddlers had been prescribed ADHD medications FY 2013. Attention deficient drugs are just one of many psychotropic agents recommended by PhRMA for use in the juvenile population.

The CDC figures are incomprehensible but they are just a minuscule representation of the numbers of children being abused by their physicians. Prescribing data collected by IMS Health’s Vector One: National and Total Patient Tracker Database for 2013 shows that 8,389,034 children, 0-17 were taking some type or combination of ADHD, antidepressant, anti-anxiety, antipsychotic drug.

The latest proposed behavioral disorder requiring prescription therapy is called Sluggish Cognitive Tempo Disorder .

PhRMA formulated the country's mental health epidemic— physicians provided the key.