MICHAEL RILEY: Can I get an ambulance? My daughter passed away in the night!
911 OPERATOR: What's going on? How old is she?
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.
CHRISTINA KOONTZ: It terrified me, especially to hear there was enough Clonodine in her system alone to kill her.
KATIE COURIC: This is what her pre-school teacher said, that she was like a floppy doll, so tired she had to be helped off the bus.
CHRISTINA KOONTZ: I mean, to think there's something on my counter that he takes on a daily basis, that the little girl had so much in her system that that alone could have been the cause of her death, terrified me.
DERON KOONTZ: I mean, neither one of us are supporters of medicating our kids. You know, that's not why we do this. We do it because we've discussed it with the doctor and it seems to work.
NARRATOR: The Koontzes went back to Dr. Bacon's office to see if they could lower D.J.'s medications.
Watch The Medicated Child on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.
It's time for Americans to ask themselves why antipsychotics are a billion dollar industry, and just why are kids on so many meds now, compared to a decade ago. What has changed? was there an increase in psychiatric medication use? in psychiatric medication marketing? have parents changed, or has the American lifestyle changed?
What damage will be done to these children long term? do you know? do you know exactly what the drug is that your child takes? are you willing to end up with a disabled or dead child as a result of them using potent and brain altering chemicals for mood management? or sleep? is it worth that risk?
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