Response to father of a boy who had cardiac arrest, nearly died.
Thanks for your response and I have checked your web site. My initial concern
would be whether my lawyer, you, and I are in sync on whether ADHD is an
actual diagnosis. I believe it is and recognize that medication plays a key
role in allowing for a child / adult to fully utilize their capabilities.
The issue I have with my son's previous psychiatrists is their not letting us
know the full risk involved with Pamelor or Nortriptyline,
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
Informed consent requires they tell you all that is material not just about
the treatment or treatments available, and that might be used, but all that
is material about the condition/problem/disorder/disease, what it is exactly
and what it's prognosis is with no treatment, i.e., it's natural course.
You have much more on them than you know]
and the random disregard for the impact of prescribing such high dosages.
[Fred A. Baughman Jr., MD:
First of all, you have to determine whether you plan to listen to
the input of experts or not as to the science that applies. As a board
certified, neurologist and child neurologist for 33 years I was paid to
know, not believe, whether persons coming to me had a disease of the
brain/nervous system or not. Testifying in court on such issues I am
responsible for knowing and attesting to the science on such issues, not
believing. When persons came to me (I am now retired from active practice)
or brought their children or other loved ones to me, I was the physician, I
did the diagnosing. If they were going to do the diagnosing they were
wasting my time and their money in doing the diagnosing and sticking with
their diagnosis. I have testified under oath before the Congress and in
many court proceedings that ADD/ADHD, whatever the terminology has never
been validated as a disease of the brain or any body part, having a
detectible, confirming physical or chemical abnormality. Very simple: no
abnormality--no disease. I have also testified under oath that any claims
of psychiatry that it diagnoses and treats actual diseases--physical
abnormalities, are fraudulent and are tantamount to medical malpractice. In
the future when you and yours see any physician--psychiatrists included--if
they tell you you (or your loved one) have a disease, ask to see the test
that proves it. Psychiatrists who call ADHD a disease due to a chemical
imbalance, have no such test and no such proof, rather, in so claiming, they
decieve, defraud, violate your right to informed consent--and, in so doing,
commit professional malpractice. With no disease, the roles of the adults in
the child's life must be not only be scrutinized, but must be accepted as
the sole determinants of the child's behavior as it is today (their being no
discernible disease/abnormality)
Second, very few attorneys understand the is a disease or isn't it
issue. Not a single psychiatric disorder is a bona fide disease in a
medical/surgical sense. I have seen most success when the attorney was
prepared to allow me to frame the issues for them. There is an increased
chance of success in local courts now, since the filing of the nation-wide
class action suit against the APA, CHADD and Novartis, claiming, correctly
that ADHD is an invention and a fraud, without which there would be nothing
to prescribe Ritalin (or anything else for). Finally, believing in ADHD as
a disease, an "actual diagnosis." you state, just as psychiatry would hope
that you "believe it is and recognize that medication plays a key role in
allowing for a child / adult to fully utilize their capabilities." This is
the whole idea behind their market strategy of inventing 'diseases' where
only normal, if troubled-troubling emotions and behaviors exist.
The sooner you and your attorney know and accept the science
regarding ADHD and all psychiatric disorders/diseases/chemical imbalances
and the dangerous, addictive, sometime lethal drugs used to 'treat' them,
the better off you will be. ...
I testified in Congress 9/29/00 (see SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS Hearing on
"Behavioral Drugs in Schools: Questions and Concerns"
Washington, DC
). I am an advisor to the class
action suit filed 5/1/00. See Ritalinfraud.com]