I’ve spent days trying to figure out the best way to approach this story. It is so outrageous, that I was concerned my anger might come across as glib. For days, the only reactions I could summon sounded sarcastic, and probably still are.
If I were asked to define "chutzpah", THIS might be the perfect example. A child psychiatrist at Harvard who has been called as a witness in a lawsuit over the use of psychiatric medications in children has asked that the testimony be kept secret so that (wait for it) it does not damage his reputation. This is the man who failed to disclose the millions he was receiving from drug companies-but don’t worry, he promises it didn’t bias his research.
Certainly, he’s already damaged his reputation without the help of court testimony by not disclosing his drug manufacturer money. Letting the public hear accounts of people damaged, and in some instances killed by unsafe psychiatric drugs they may not have needed in the first place is incredibly important.
Who is telling your doctor what to prescribe? Who are the authorities writing the research? Who decides that psychiatric medications are so profitable that it results in two year olds being diagnosed as bi-polar? Who decides that 40% of the children who are wards of the State of Nebraska are on powerful psychiatric medications? Who? Who? Who?
No, the testimony should not be private and whatever facts come to light that damage his reputation will be solely his own doing. There’s a trail of damaged and dead children whose rights were so summarily dismissed as they were (force) fed the latest money-making miracle drug that would turn them into obedient zombies. To seal the testimony would only reinforce the idea that it is acceptable to use the vulnerable for experimentation and profits. Two decades ago it was foster children in New York being given experimental AIDS drugs without the consent of their guardians. The idea that there are children across this country being forcibly medicated because trusted authorities in the pay of pharmaceutical companies made such recommendations is horrific. Permitting it to go unreported, hidden in secret testimony and sealed court documents would only further declare that these children’s lives were simply the cost of doing business and that fundamental human rights do not apply to them. The testimony must be made public-and widely reported.