I still can't believe that the psychiatrist who prescribed the medications, Dr. Kayoko Kifuji, got off scott free.

When two unemployed, mentally ill, welfare recipients with criminal records keep calling you and saying that they have "accidentally" lost their daughter's medication AGAIN, and you keep on writing them replacement prescriptions, then you are an idiot.

When a 2 -year-old child living with mentally ill, unemployed, violent parents, one of whom is had been accused of raping a child, is brought in for psychiatric treatment, and you diagnose her as bipolar, because you think brain chemicals are clearly the source of the all her problems... then you are an idiot.

So many psychiatrists have ZERO common sense. NONE.

I wouldn't get too far ahead of yourself here. I think those parents were giving her more than the prescribed doses and by quite a bit from what I gathered. If that's true I think a jury could get to a murder conviction. They were plying her with stuff to keep her quiet, make her sleep. . . Didn't really have a lot to do with what the doctor's regimen was, not that that itself wasn't ridiculously inappropriate. Don't forget the parents themselves were medicated to the hilt and had very impaired judgment.

Sara,

That is exactly my point -- the parents were medicated to the hilt, and neither of them had ever managed to hold any sort of job in their ~30 years on the planet. The father had a long criminal record and had been arrested for child rape. And yet this doctor trusted those parents to properly medicate a 2 year old, giving her the right dosages of three different medications at the right time? The doctor totally lacks common sense.

And, then when the parents called the doctor over and over again claiming to have lost the daughter's medication, the doctor still trusted them to give the correct dosages at the correct time, despite the fact that they seemed to not even be able to keep track of the pills?

It's ridiculous. Psychiatrists who lack common sense harm patients severely. The doctor in this case bares at least some of the blame.

I'm with Sara, the parents are pretty culpable here... now in the case of Destiny Hare, her psychiatrist should be rotting in jail.

The psychiatrist was an idiot, but Rebecca's parents were giving her way too much medication. Some people just shouldn't be parents.

July 01, 2009

No Charges Against Psychiatrist In Rebecca Riley Case
A grand jury in Massachusetts has not returned a criminal indictment against Kayoko Kifuji, a Tufts Medical Center psychiatrist, in connection with the doctor's role in the death of Rebecca Riley, a 4-year-old girl who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD at 2-years-old. The case has gotten a ton of national attention due to the fact that the girl was actually killed in December 2006 by some of the aggressive medication she was on. Meds prescribed to her included Seroquel, Depakote and clonidine.

Her parents have been charged with first-degree murder and are in jail awaiting trial.

A medical malpractice case brought by the girl's estate against Kifuji continues.

I would've been surprised by any criminal charges against the psychiatrist, but the civil case ought to be a tougher go for her.

The back story on the Riley can be found here.

Posted by Philip Dawdy at July 1, 2009 02:45 PM

Yep! The parents are to blame not the psychiatrist and after all it is not their fault that Rebecca was a bipolar child and, thanks the Lord!" she was diagnosed at a very early age by a psychiatrist that follows Biederman's bipolar child paradigm.
Surely the parents did OD Rebecca with not very dangerous drugs such as clonidine, Seroquel and Depakote maybe because they were tired of two years of this child being such a pain.

Only OD can explain Rebecca's death.

Well, I have to wonder about the child psychiatrist myself. How did she miss the fact that the parents were the child's problem? She doesn't notice the parents are f'd up? Isn't she supposed to notice those things before she starts medicating children?

I would add that any psychiatrist who diagnoses a two year old with bipolar disorder and ADD shouldn't have a job.

"Well, I have to wonder about the child psychiatrist myself. How did she miss the fact that the parents were the child's problem?"

Sally,
I believe that psychiatry is going backwards. In the seventies parents behavior were part of the observations doctors took while trying to understand what was happening to a child or even adult.
New they don't have time for the family because they only have 15 minutes to "listen"(?) to the patient.

The psychiatrist prescribed Seroquel and Depakote and other drugs to a toddler, what ever happened to first do no harm?

Placing the child on those drugs as a toddler, without any long term studies of safety for use in children in my opinion was reckless endangerment of the child's life.

The child has no opportunity for informed consent, at the mercy of parents for care, if the parents were in fact questionable in their care, then that doctor should have noticed that at minimum and contacted authorities, instead the doctor prescribed massive chemicals not approved for use in children to Rebecca Riley.

I feel that doctor is guilty of a crime and that is she failed to keep her oath of "first do no harm".

After all, she IS the professional in this situation, she WAS the doctor with the rx pad, and SHE was the one who gave the deadly cocktail of drugs---even if the parents went exactly dose correct via doctors orders, there is still question that Rebecca wouldn't have died as a result of that combo of meds in her tiny little body.

Malpractice suits will not bring Rebecca Riley or Destiny back, they are little girls who never made it to 1st grade!

Well, the question is, is she criminally culpable, though? They were not following her instructions as prescribed when the child died. She is allowed, under the law, to prescribe psych drugs off-label where she sees fit. If they had been following her prescription word-for-word, and Rebecca died anyway, it would be a more clear cut case (this was the case with Destiny Hare of Kansas).

I think child psychiatrists suck, and we should look at their practices in the long run, but I'm not clear that the doctor is at fault here, and I think it'll be difficult for the law to prove that. The doctor should be investigated, sure, but I'm not sure she is criminally negligent.

The Hippocratic Oath also does not include the phrase "First, do no harm". Hippocrates DID say that, but not in the Hippocratic Oath. And even if it were part of the oath, I'm not sure that it's against the law to break a ceremonial oath, other than the oath to tell the truth, whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Or the oath to uphold the constitution when you take office. I don't know if betraying a physician's oath is considered a crime. They don't even say that oath at many med school graduations anymore anyway.

I hate to interrupt a perfectly good discussion, but I just want to get the attention of somebody to help me with a problem I have been having on this site. I am a 16 year old girl with rapid cycling bipolar NOS who just got out of the hospital. My mother, 2 aunts, and 4 cousins are also bipolar, but my father is antipsychiatry, even though he has a schizophrenic brother. Here is the thing- I am terrified at all of these controversies with meds. All I see are the people who are entirely for meds or those entirely against it. I am not entirely for them, but I simply CANNOT function without. Before meds I was suicidal half the time and calling up my friends saying I'm a prophet the other half of the time. For this reason I cannot stand antipsychiatry. There is also a lot of articles about children being unable to have bipolar. I may be a child, but I know that it isn't normal for me to be crying for up to 5 hours a night, or starting ridiculous projects I never finish, or to be paralyzed with anxiety. I just want to know what you all think.

Basically, are meds good or bad?

Michele, everyone is different. If I struggled as much as you describe, I might be more open to taking meds. I don't think meds are good, but some people are thankful for them... I think that if you find them helpful in the short term, that is great... but if I were you, I'd also be investigating all other avenues to wellness for my long term mental and physical health.

Michele: My opinion (and i speak only for myself) is that anyone who says, "Meds are always good," or, "Meds are always bad," is not thinking critically about the issue. So i would be very wary of trusting someone who voices that kind of an opinion.

A teen is, developmentally, entirely different from a pre-teen; a pre-teen different from a 7-year-old who is different from a toddler... So while i'm comfortable saying that giving psychiatric medication to a toddler is, very rarely, if ever, justifiable, i wouldn't apply the same argument to a 7-year-old, and i'd get less and less comfortable making generalizations as this hypothetical patient gets older. A very small child can't verbalize what they are experiencing. A 16-year-old is a different story altogether. If you were my kid, i'd want to consider your treatment options very carefully, because your brain's still developing; it's got several more years yet to go! But you also need to be able to live your life, to take care of yourself and stay safe. Sometimes people need medications to do that.

I hope you've got good doctors and some good folks to talk to. Take care.

Michele: Additionally, the symptoms you describe sounds like classic bipolar disorder. One of the main concerns with diagnosing bipolar in young kids is that often they're being diagnosed on the basis of really vague symptoms (irritability, distractibility), causing a high chance of misdiagnosis.

Anyway, i hope you'll learn not to put too much stock in other people's opinions. Only you really know what you're going through.

oops, PHILIP, i hit reload accidentally... so am posting this again, but please delete if it's a duplicate! thanks

Michele: Additionally, the symptoms you describe sounds like classic bipolar disorder. One of the main concerns with diagnosing bipolar in young kids is that often they're being diagnosed on the basis of really vague symptoms (irritability, distractability), causing a higher chance of misdiagnosis.

Anyway, i hope you'll learn not to put too much stock in other people's opinions. Only you really know what you're going through.

My first question to Michele would be have you had informed consent? meaning ask the doctors for ALL prescribing information, read the fine print and make sure you advocate for yourself. Only you know best, and the difference here is that you can be informed where the little toddlers cannot choose.

Best wishes.

Thanks everyone for the support, I'm very glad to find people who seem to understand what I'm going through. To Stephany- I am making an attempt to read up as much as physically possible on the meds I am on (lamictal and geodon) which is actually what brought me to this site. From what I have gathered thus far, lamictal is pretty mild until you get off of it, so I am willing to take the risk to get the edge off my depression. Geodon is a bit different, as atypicals are kinda scary, but I just think "thank god I'm not on seroquel!" I had a paradoxical reaction to abilify, which made me cycle horribly, because I didn't read up on the side affects. My main problem with looking at meds is just that- I have paradoxical reactions to the majority.
To Sarah- I cannot say enough how nice it is to hear rationality after seeing site after site of antipsychiatry and then going on nami and seeing some of the opposite! Thank you so very much.

Michelle,
I see no problem for you.
You are doing fine with your meds so why bother? You don't have to be at any side and most people who are here are not antipsychiatrists like your father.
You have found your way so... keep going with what you think is the best for you.
No need to be for or against and this is not the right question.
This blog is raising serious problems psych-drugs are creating and it's not an arena between pros and cons.
The fact is that many people have experienced terrible side effects and withdrawal with these meds and we are trying to tell our experiences or the experiences of someone we know.
Be at peace, this is your main concern and duty.

Michele, I think you are doing the right thing for you. I have a son who has been diagnosed as bipolar. He is only 12 and I am trying to keep him off of meds as he is still young yet. Every person is different. I love this site for all of the information it provides and the accounts people share with their med experiences. Meds do help a lot of people though and in my family we have had 2 deaths due to depression (one direct suicide and one untreated heart disease) in the past 2 years and I wish both of those people had sought help as I miss them both dearly.