Rebecca Riley: dead at age 4 : grand jury says psychiatrist is innocent

Grand Jury: No Case Vs. Dr. In Girl's Death: Rebecca Riley, dead age 4

Charges Still Pending Against Rebecca Riley's Parents

July 2009

BOSTON -- "A Plymouth County grand jury has decided not to charge a Tufts Medical Center psychiatrist in connection with the death of a 4-year-old Hull girl who died after an overdose of drugs in 2006.

The grand jury investigated the actions of Dr. Kayoko Kifuji who treated Rebecca Riley for bi-polar disorder and prescribed several drugs, some of which were found in the child's system when she died.

Riley's parents, Michael Riley, 36, and Carolyn Riley, 34, are awaiting trial on second degree murder charges, both accused of killing her with an overdose on Dec. 13, 2006.

A police investigation showed the child had been prescribed clonidine for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and valproic acid and Seroquel for bipolar disorder. The medical examiner's autopsy indicated that she died from a toxic combination of clonidine, Depakote, dextromethorphan, and chlorpheniramine."

More from today at Furious Seasons.
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PBS-Frontline: The Medicated Child: pediatric bipolar paradigm (free online viewing)

6 million American children are taking psychiatric drugs never tested on children and most importantly, have never shown safety and efficacy for valid use in children with growing brains and bodies.

From the transcript:

"911 OPERATOR: 911.

MICHAEL RILEY: My daughter passed away in the night!

911 OPERATOR: What's going on? How old is she?

MICHAEL RILEY: Our daughter passed away!

ANNOUNCER: And now one million children have been diagnosed with a new and controversial diagnosis.

JESSICA: I have bipolar, but taking my medication makes me more like I'm supposed to be.

ELIZABETH: In the morning, she takes two Trileptal.

Jessica can't live without medication.

ANNOUNCER: The drugs used to treat it are powerful.

ROBERT TEMPLE, M.D., Food and Drug Administration: These are not benign drugs. You don't use them lightly.

ANNOUNCER: And many are untested.

CHRISTINA KOONTZ: It is a little worrisome to me because he is so young.

ANNOUNCER: Tonight on FRONTLINE, The Medicated Child.

RON SOLOMON: Hi, guys. You're all here to wish Jacob a happy 2nd birthday.

PARTY GUESTS: Happy Birthday, Jacob!
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NARRATOR: Then suddenly, on the morning of his 13th birthday, Jacob woke up with a stiff neck and started rolling his head, a possible side effect of all the medication he'd been taking.

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MICHAEL RILEY: My daughter passed away!

911 OPERATOR: How old?MICHAEL RILEY: She's 4.

911 OPERATOR: All right. We'll be right there.

NARRATOR: The danger of prescribing untested drugs to young children grabbed national attention a year ago. Rebecca Riley of Hull, Massachusetts, had been diagnosed with bipolar and was taking a mixture of psychiatric medications.

FRONTLINE was visiting the Koontz family when they learned of the case.

KATIE COURIC, 60 Minutes: We went to talk to one of the leading proponents of the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children.

He is Dr. Joseph Biederman.Now you're saying up to a million children are running around with this-

Dr. JOSEPH BIEDERMAN: Correct.Correct.

KATIE COURIC: The autopsy revealed that she had died from an overdose of psychiatric drugs.

NARRATOR: The Koontzes worried that D.J. was on a similar regimen of psychiatric drugs, including the sedative Clonodine.
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NARRATOR: But critics point out that researchers who advocate the use of psychiatric medications, like Chang and Biederman, receive enormous support from drug companies. And they believe that these industry-funded studies unduly influence doctors' decisions.

Prof. DANIEL CARLAT,(link to his blog), M.D., Psychiatry, Tufts Univ.:

"Whenever research is funded by industry, unfortunately, the research is always going to be suspect. There's no question that from the standpoint of any psychiatrist looking around at the courses that are being offered, going to the large meetings, reading the journals, that just about everything bears the stamp of drug industry funding and drug industry influence. And it is really one field where it's extremely hard to know who you can trust and who you can't trust." -Dr.Daniel Carlat

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Rebecca Riley, dead age 4

Patient Advocacy Group Calls On Harvard For Independent Review Of Harvard Child Psychiatrist,Furious Seasons.
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My original post, including a defense from Philip Dawdy, author of Furious Seasons: per the attack from John McManamy.