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Oct 29, 2009 1:06 pm US/Eastern
ME: No Evidence Of Homicide In Child Hanging Death
MIAMI (CBS4) ―
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Gabriel Myers, the 7-year-old Broward boy who hanged himself in the shower of his foster home.
Miami Herald
The Broward Medical Examiner's office has ruled that there was "no evidence of homicide or manslaughter" in the case involving the 7-year-old foster child who hanged himself using a detachable shower head.
Gabriel Myers' death wasn't ruled a suicide because the boy may have been too young to know what he was doing and had anti depressant and psychotropic drugs in his blood stream, according to Dr. Joshua Perper, Broward's medical examiner.
The incident happened at the home of his foster parents in Margate on April 16th. The Margate Police Department, however, says its criminal investigation remains open.
Four months after his death, a panel's report says children in state custody are often given mind-altering drugs instead of treating the reasons behind their emotional outbreaks.
Florida has approximately 19,000 children in state care and of those about 3,200 are in Miami-Dade County, according to DCF spokeswoman Flora Beal.
A state appointed panel recently reviewed all cases and released a report that found that the policies requiring parental consent or a second opinion were not uniformly followed.
Gabriel was on psychotropic medications without the required consent, the panel concluded. And his case isn't an isolated incident, according to the panel's report.
``Psychotherapeutic medications are often being used to help parents, teachers and other child workers quiet and manage, rather than treat, children,'' the report says. ``We have not clearly articulated the standard of psychiatric care expected for children in state foster care.''
DCF Secretary George Sheldon had appointed a panel to review the Myers case and how often the state relies on psychotropic drugs.
He warned that the report is not final and may be subject to change after another group reviews it.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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