Florida Foster Children ‘Restrained’ with Adult Psychiatric Drugs

About 600 Florida children enrolled in the state's Medicaid program were treated last year with "powerful psychiatric drugs" intended for adult schizophrenia patients, a review of records by the Miami Herald found. The drugs, which include Clozaril, Zyprexa and Risperdal, were used as "chemical restraints" on "unmanageable children," and resulted in numerous side effects including lethargy, agitation tremors and "unusually large" breast development. The Herald reports that one boy began to produce breast milk. The records were obtained by the Herald from the state Agency for Health Care Administration, which handles the reimbursements and record keeping for the state's Medicaid program. The records indicated that all of the children treated with the psychiatric drugs were Medicaid beneficiaries under age 6, but do not show whether the drugs were prescribed by family physicians or doctors that treat children in state care. While the drugs have not been "specifically approved" for children, the Herald reports it is not uncommon for drugs to be prescribed for an "off-label" use. In response to the records and a Herald story from last month suggesting that children were being treated with the drugs in order to "control" them, the state Department of Children & Families, which manages the state's foster care system, said officials "will not tolerate" the use of medications as a way of "restrain[ing]" children. The department has appointed two officials to oversee a review of children in the state who are taking the drugs, and in Broward County, a child welfare manager is preparing a spreadsheet of every child in the state's care and what prescriptions they are taking. In addition, the Agency for Health Care Administration may "take action" against any physician "found to be negligent" (Miller, Miami Herald, 5/7).