FL. Scrutiny of Florida Juvenile System and Over-Prescription of Anti-Psychotic Drugs Continues

Further scrutiny of Florida’s juvenile justice system is underway following published reports that powerful anti-psychotic drugs were flowing freely into state jails for kids.

TheĀ  juvenile justice department’s inspector general is focusing on whether department doctors are prescribing an “excessive amount” of mind-altering drugs to kids, whether the department can adequately track prescriptions, and whether department doctors have taken payments from drugmakers.

A document obtained by the newspaper said the probe will pay special attention to whether there’s a pattern of prescribing anti-psychotics and other drugs among specific companies hired by the state to run programs.

A department spokesman said the probe still is active and ongoing.

State Attorney General Pam Bondi’s office said months ago it was looking into the Medicaid billing habits of doctors who worked in Florida’s juvenile jails. As it turns out, most children in state custody are eligible for Medicaid coverage, a circumstance the Department of Juvenile Justice is eyeing as its own, in-house probe enters its fourth month.

The drugs at issue are very powerful, and can have harmful side effects.

Drugmaker AstraZeneca in June added a new warning to the label for the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel that cautions that the drug can cause serious heart problems.

The Post reported that during a two-year period it reviewed, Florida’s juvenile justice department bought more than 215,000 tablets of Seroquel for juvenile jails and

This entry was posted in BIG PHARMA, drugging children, FLORIDA, juvenile justice and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.