Contact A Lawyer
Near You

Contact us today for a complimentary consultation with a qualified attorney near you.

Risperdal Children

Risperdal is considered a new antipsychotic drug that has been approved for adult use but the safety of Risperdal in children has not yet been established. Despite the lack of known Risperdal safety indication in children, a growing number of psychiatrists are prescribing the drug to treat conduct disorders. There has been a growing debate in whether or not health professionals are over prescribing psychotropic medications over counseling.

Intended to treat symptoms of schizophrenia and severe mental illnesses, mental health experts and parents continue to debate whether or not Risperdal children prescriptions are beneficial or detrimental. Psychiatrists often prescribe the powerful drug Risperdal for such things as attention deficit disorder and this is especially worrisome to experts who think a huge risk is that the severe Risperdal side effects could last forever. Even the FDA has warned that safety implications of Risperdal children use have not been established.

Child advocates consider the over-prescribing of drugs like Risperdal to children to be a form of drug abuse in children that has become a national epidemic. In January 2003, the medical journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine reported that the number of children taking psychiatric drugs nationwide has at least doubled in the past decade. The drug Risperdal is a favored prescription medication of child psychiatrists, and the report re-ignited the debate over the use of potentially dangerous medications in children.

Risperdal was part of the national study that looked at many drugs created for psychotic adults. A lead author of the study, Julie Magno Zito, thinks that the results are extremely disturbing because of the little research performed on how the compounds in drugs like Risperdal affect young patients. Zito thinks that a serious research agenda is necessary to reassure mental health professionals and parents that medications like Risperdal are appropriate for children.

A Public Citizen consumer watchdog group pharmacist and research analyst thinks that the recent Risperdal studies should push U.S. regulators to examine more deeply if younger aged schizophrenia patients are also more prone to experiencing Risperdal stroke and other side effects of Risperdal. The clinical trials testing Risperdal in Alzheimer patients heightened concerns that the occurrence of serious Risperdal side effects is higher than previously thought. Among 764 Risperdal patients, 29 cases of stroke and stroke-related events were seen, in addition to four deaths.

For more information on Risperdal side effects please contact us to confer with a Risperdal lawyer.

Contact a Risperdal Recall Lawyer

More Risperdal Resources

Risperdal Side Effects - Information and recent news on the harmful effects of Risperdal.

Risperdal - Manufacturer's website for this medication for treating psychotic symptoms. Provides information for consumers and health care professionals.

Drug Digest - Information from DrugDigest on dosage, usage, side effects, and interactions of this antipsychotic medication.