Thought Broadcast

I’ve been following the Rebecca Riley case in Massachusetts, although not as closely as I would like to, since I find the details so incredibly disturbing.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, four year-old Rebecca died in 2006 after an overdose of the psychotropic medications clonidine, Depakote, and Seroquel.  Her parents were convicted of murder in 2010 even though they argued that they were simply “following the instructions” of Rebecca’s child psychiatrist, Dr Kiyoko Kifuji of Tufts Medical Center.  Dr Kifuji had diagnosed Rebecca with bipolar disorder and prescribed three powerful medications to her, starting at the age of 2.

It has also come to light that Rebecca’s parents had exploited the social service system to obtain federal disability benefits for their three children– Rebecca and two older siblings, who were also diagnosed with bipolar disorder and ADHD by Dr Kifuji.  Also, Dr Kifuji’s medical license was suspended for two years after Rebecca’s death, although she eventually returned to practice medicine at Tufts, where she still sees patients.  Finally, Tufts settled a malpractice suit with the family last week for $2.5 million.

Many news stories disturb me, but this one makes me particularly angry, because all parties share part of the blame.  Obviously, I did not evaluate Rebecca myself (and, in the interest of full disclosure, I am not a child psychiatrist, nor have I even raised a two-year-old of my own), but the facts of the case, as I understand them, fill me with contempt for just about everyone involved.  Everyone that is, except for Rebecca.

The objects of my rage?  Let’s go down my list, one at a time:

• Dr Kiyoko Kifuji – Even if we grant the possibility that bipolar disorder can be diagnosed in a two year-old (a questionable premise, even according to the experts), the evidence suggests that Dr Kifuji permitted Rebecca’s parents to give the medications as they saw fit (and agreed with their decisions to increase doses), authorized prescriptions over the phone without evaluating Rebecca, and was cautioned by pharmacies that Rebecca’s parents were going through meds more quickly than expected.  Social workers and a school nurse also alerted Dr Kifuji to the fact that Rebecca seemed oversedated and “like a floppy doll,” but Dr Kifuji allegedly made no adjustments to Rebecca’s treatment plan.

• Michael and Carolyn Riley (Rebecca’s parents) – Seven abuse and neglect complaints were filed with the Massachusetts Dept of Children and Families, starting in 2002, alleging that the Rileys seemed unable to care for their children; apparently they, too, were also taking doses of medications that, at times, impaired their judgment.  Furthermore, it has come to light that everyone in the Riley family (except Rebecca) had applied for, and received, federal disability payments, in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to defraud the system to earn extra income.  They had filed an application for Rebecca, which was denied, but the Rileys appealed the decision.  However, after Rebecca’s death, in a jailhouse interview in September 2007, Carolyn Riley confessed to Katie Couric that she was not sure whether Rebecca had bipolar disorder after all: “maybe she was just hyper for her age.”

• Massachusetts Department of Children and Families– While not directly responsible for Rebecca’s death, the warning signs were clearly visible that the Rileys were unfit to care for their children, including the abuse and neglect complaints noted above, as well as specific complaints from Rebecca’s therapist that, on a home visit, Carolyn Riley seemed “drugged and unable to care for [her] children.”  Agencies like this are incredibly overburdened and underfunded, but when they drop the ball, as they did in this case, lives may be at stake.

• The psychiatric profession – As I’ve written on this blog, we as a discipline have not only expanded diagnostic criteria for mental illness (and are continuing to do so), but sometimes err on the side of over-diagnosis and over-treatment, rather than exploring alternate explanations for behavior or less potent treatment options.  One may argue that Dr Kifuji was practicing within the accepted standard of care.  Because I am not a child psychiatrist, I cannot comment on that, but there has been a 40-fold increase in diagnosis of childhood bipolar disorer from 1994 to 2003, which only a few in our profession have questioned or challenged.

• The pharmaceutical industry – Drug companies are easy targets for frustration and rage, but in this case it could be argued that it was the inappropriate use of three commonly used (and frequently effective) medications which led to Rebecca’s death.  Two of the three medications she was taking (clonidine and valproic acid) are off-patent, so no one can accuse a drug company of “pushing” a medication on Rebecca for the sake of profit.  Nevertheless, efforts by Big Pharma to promote and expand the use of their medications can unfortunately bias some providers to overuse their agents, and the promotion of drugs while downplaying the risk of adverse effects is inexcusable.  (Even so, in my opinion, we doctors need to be held responsible for what we prescribe and why.)

• Massachusetts Board of Registration of Medicine – Dr Kifuji entered a “voluntary agreement” to stop practicing psychiatry from February 2007 to September 2009.  The Board conducted an investigation into the case but “closed the complaint against Dr Kifuji without discipline.”  She has since returned to practice.  In my experience, I have seen state medical boards revoke licenses from doctors whose misbehaviors were not nearly as (allegedly) egregious as Dr Kifuji’s, or which involved only their personal lives and not patient care.  When I see the reports of this case and recognize that Dr Kifuji still practices psychiatry (in the same location and with the same patient population) I am concerned about the double standard being practiced by licensing bodies.

• Tufts Medical Center – Obviously, Kifuji’s care was provided by an institution that also shares some responsibility for the ethical and beneficent provision of medical care. At the same time, it is shocking that Kifuji has retained her faculty position at Tufts.  Again, in my experience, hospitals and other institutions tend to be overly conservative when there is even the question of inappropriate behavior by one of their providers, if only to maintain good public relations.  Perhaps her employment will be terminated or limited now that a malpractice settlement has been reached, but it does strike me as one of those cases in which I see nothing that Tufts could gain by Dr Kifuji’s continued employment.

• Malpractice Attorneys – Another easy (but valid) target.  Even assuming that malpractice was committed and the charges were valid, the fear of cases of this magnitude may make doctors less likely to treat the cases which actually do require aggressive care (and also contributes to defensive medicine, resulting in greater health care costs).  One might ask, however, whether the case, brought on behalf of Rebecca’s estate, had any merit, since her parents had already been convicted of her murder.  But as with most things in life, where there’s an opportunity for a payout, there are those who will spring into action:  A settlement of $2.5 million at 35% contingency fee, plus other expenses = $875K +.  And maybe the lawyer will be the guardian of funds, or set up a trust for Rebecca’s siblings, for an additional fee.  As a doctor wrote on a different website, “Three years of law school suddenly sounds like a better investment than medical school, internship, residency, and fellowship training.”

So many opportunities for Rebecca’s life to have turned out differently.  And so much blame to go around.  Unfortunately, the only one without any culpability at all is Rebecca herself.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011 at 6:14 am and is filed under bipolar, legal, medications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.