Juvenile Jail Investigation Continues

Inquiry is focusing on whether doctors are prescribing an "excessive amount" of mind-altering drugs to kids.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 8:43 p.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 8:43 p.m.

WEST PALM BEACH | Further scrutiny of Florida's juvenile justice system is under way following published reports that powerful anti-psychotic drugs were flowing freely into state jails for kids.

The Palm Beach Post reported Sunday that the juvenile justice department's inspector general is focusing on whether department doctors are prescribing an "excessive amount" of mind-altering drugs to kids, whether the department can adequately track prescriptions and whether department doctors have taken payments from drugmakers.

A document obtained by the newspaper said the probe will pay special attention to whether there's a pattern of prescribing anti-psychotics and other drugs among specific companies hired by the state to run programs.

A department spokesman said the investigation still is active and ongoing.

State Attorney General Pam Bondi's office said months ago it was looking into the Medicaid billing habits of doctors who worked in Florida's juvenile jails. As it turns out, most children in state custody are eligible for Medicaid coverage, a circumstance the Department of Juvenile Justice is eyeing as its own, in-house probe enters its fourth month.

The drugs at issue are very powerful, and can have harmful side effects.

Drugmaker AstraZeneca in June added a new warning to the label for the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel that cautions that the drug can cause serious heart problems. The move came at the urging of Food and Drug Administration. 

The Post reported that during a two-year period it reviewed, Florida's juvenile justice department bought more than 215,000 tablets of Seroquel for juvenile jails and programs that can house no more than 2,300 kids on a given day.

"There are no easy answers in terms of the questions raised by the investigation," DJJ spokesman C.J. Drake said. "It's a case where there are numerous sources of information and documentation that require careful analysis. There are a lot of moving parts to this issue."

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