Apr 22, 2009 7:49 pm US/Eastern
Questions About Meds In Foster Child's Suicide
Prescribed Pills Are Not Approved For Kids
MARGATE (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
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A 7-year-old boy died on April 16 at the home seen here.
CBS
Seven-year-old Gabriel Myers may have been tormented by demons that came from a prescription drug bottle.
CBS4 news partner
The Miami Herald reports the boy who apparently hanged himself in his foster home in Margate last week, had been taking powerful, psychotropic medications. Some of the drugs are not approved for use in children by the Food & Drug Administration. Three of the drugs come with strong warnings that they can increase the risk of suicide in children.
While Gabriel had been given pills meant to treat mental illness, there is no indication he was psychotic.
"Apparently, he was a normal little boy who occasionally had tantrums and became difficult when he didn't get his way, but he was not diagnosed with schizophrenia or any other major mental illness," Herald reporter Carol Marbin Miller said.
Gabriel was being watched last Thursday by Miguel Gould, the 19-year-old son of the foster father in the home where he lived as a ward of the state. "He was just sick," Gould told
CBS4's Gary Nelson Wednesday. "He had pills he had to take to get better. He would have to take like two or three pills per day."
In recent weeks, Gabriel was prescribed the drug Symbyax, which comes with the strongest warning the FDA issues regarding potential for suicide in children. Gould said the boy's behavior worsened after he began taking the latest drug. "It got worse. His behavior was just out of control. I couldn't control him, my parents couldn't control him."
Gould told
CBS4 News the boy pitched a fit the day he died, angry about a lunch of soup and crackers he had been given. Gould said Gabriel had to eat something with the medication he was taking because it "could be rough on his stomach."
Dr. David Lustig, a child psychologist and director of the Koala Learning Center in Pembroke Pines, said some children may need to be treated with psychotropic drugs, but because of possible serious side effects they have to be watched closely, especially when starting on a new medication. "Someone has to be monitoring the child to make sure the medicine is doing what it's supposed to do and there are not adverse reactions," Lustig said. "In a foster setting, there may not have been anyone to do that adequately."
Jack Moss, the director of the Department of Children and Families in Broward County, said his agency is reviewing the medical history of the boy who died. "It's not only the drugs and the dosage we're concerned about," Moss said. "The department has a concern as to whether the drugs were appropriately prescribed in the first place."
Moss spoke after a hearing before Circuit Judge Thomas Lynch, who ordered that DCF's confidential records on Gabriel's history with the state be made public. DCF, citing a public interest and "desire for transparency," asked the judge to unseal the records. It's expected to take the department several days to compile the documents, an estimated 11-thousand pages.
Miller, the Herald reporter, previously authored an investigative series that revealed as many as one in four foster children in Florida was being given psychotropic drugs. "They didn't suffer from psychosis," Miller said. "They were just kids whose foster parents found it difficult to manage."
After the Herald's reports, the Florida legislature passed a measure intended to limit the practice, but it has met only limited success. Doctors are permitted to prescribe the powerful drugs "off label," despite the FDA's lack of approval for their use in children.
Gabriel Myer's manner of death has not been officially classified as a suicide by Margate police. "We want to exhaust every possible avenue and make sure we have done a thorough investigation before we make a determination," said Ofc. Vom Williams, a department spokesman.
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
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