State officials investigating whether 7-year-old suicide victim was given mind-altering drug
April 28, 2009 Abuse, Antidepressants, Antipsychotic, Drug-induced suicide, FDA, Fraud, News, Psychiatry, Symbyax No CommentsBy Jon Burstein
April 24, 2009
MARGATE – State officials are investigating whether a 7-year-old boy who hanged himself in his Margate foster home had been given a powerful, mind-altering drug in violation of Florida law.
Three weeks before his April 16 suicide, Gabriel Myers was prescribed the drug Symbyax, which is a combination of the generic forms of the anti-depressant Prozac and the anti-psychosis drug Zyprexa, according to state Department of Children & Families records released Friday night.
But there was no court order in place for Gabriel to use the drug, the records show. Under Florida law, parental consent or a judge’s ruling is needed before a foster child can be administered a psychotropic drug.