Massachusetts - overdose of a 4 year old | ADHD Information

OH MY GOODNESS  what an extremely horrible story.  I can't fatham all the responsible parties in this.  And if social services were following the family shouldn't they have acted sooner.  I think this poor little girl fell through all the cracks in the system.  And what is soooo sad, I think, is because of her obviously extremely dysfunctional family, the social system was her only help and they let her down too.  I tell you things like this make me hug and kiss my children more everyday and thank God for them and for our pediatrician, pharmacist and school system here in our small town because they really look out for us.Why were they even giving meds to a 4yo? Thats insane, you cannot even get an accurate diagnosis at that age. I hope they get what they deserve!

[QUOTE=edbson]Why were they even giving meds to a 4yo? Thats insane, you cannot even get an accurate diagnosis at that age. I hope they get what they deserve![/QUOTE]

Some would say you can never get an "accurate" diagnosis  However, our son was dx'd at age three.  There are definite indicators that young if you know what to look for (we had a HUGE family history so we were already tuned into it) and if you work with responsible professionals.  We had one doc offer us meds but we declined and have been working with supplements and other alternative methods with great success.

That poor baby! The parents do sound like they are mentally challenged.

http://news.bostonherald.com/localRegional/view.bg?articleid =181515&format=&page=1

Please check out this news report and give your comments and/or opinions.  My mother has been freaking out on me since this story came out.  Personally I think these parents are very uneducated - I don't think they did this to purposely kill their child.  The doctor who was prescribing all these meds should be brought up on charges.

Beckysmom39120.4524884259

It really sounds like the family worked the system, but the people at the doctor's and at the pharmacies should have raised a red flag long ago!  It is so sad that they were drugging her to get her to sleep so early each day!  And why didn't these concerned relatives that were "urging" them to get help for her, just scoop her up and do it themselves, or call the police? 

That poor baby!

Sounds scary, I think a lot of people are responsible. My son takes Clonidine (we are currently weaning him off slowly) and I hate the drug. What scares me is that if this child was getting it intermittently I'm surprised she didn't die from blood pressure problems (serious side effect with Clonidine). Sounds like the parents weren't too fit to have any children in the home.

In the last year we have gone through so many meds I could start an ADHD pharmacy from the stuff that didn't work. You would think that someone would have red flagged us with all of the prescriptions but not once. Closer monitoring should have happened with this girl and her doctor should have notified SS after the second time of lost meds.

What a horrible tragedy that could have been prevented.

gottagr8kid39120.476724537

How heartbreaking for that poor little girl.

It sounds like they are nut-cases, and have no business caring for children.Wow! This is such a tragic story. This makes my extended family seem almost normal. It sounds like the parents needed psychiatric care and should not have been raising any children. vickie39120.4940393519

[QUOTE=lovemyboy]That poor baby! The parents do sound like they are mentally challenged.[/QUOTE]

Living here in Massachusetts and this story all over the news, has been quite difficult since it broke.

I agree with the above quote in regards to the parents being mentally challenged. They medicated all 3 children. The parents claim the children had what the parents had - depression, bipolar, and adhd.

The father was NOT supposed to be in the house because he has been accussed of sexually molesting another daughter from his wifes first marriage. The daughter has since been adopted into another family.

The two little girls they claim walked around like zombies. And the one who died, her school informed that she was so weak, that she couldn't even walk up the stairs.

The story just keeps getting worse and worse.

The doctor has turned in her medical license pending a review.

But, having a son who was diagnosed with adhd before he was 5, I do believe that children can be diagnosed properly by the correct professional at a young age.

In this case, I am still "out" on what I really think happened. From what I have heard and read, I blame the parents on overmedicating, not the doctor. I heard on the news that the father kept giving the little one who died, medicine whenever she "acted up", disgusting. This way he didn't have to deal with his children.

Just my opinion based on the most updated news reports here in Boston.