Opposing Digits

AN Audit of doctors who are prescribing thousands of children with stimulant drugs to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has been called for in the wake of evidence of the medication's potentially dire side effects.

The Health Consumers Council of Western Australia says the state Health Department should review a random sample of cases of a Perth pediatrician who had been found to have authorised prescriptions for stimulant drugs to more than 2000 children over a 17-month period.

"We know that doctors can be influenced by the involvement of pharmaceutical companies," senior advocate Maxine Drake said. "It can also be that children are being taken by their parents to this doctor because they are hearing about the prescriptions.

"The medical profession is very used to self-regulation."

# posted by madthumbs @ 11:36 AM