HCS HB 1677 -- PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS FOR MINORS

SPONSOR:  Barry (Selby)

COMMITTEE ACTION:  Voted "do pass" by the Committee on Children,
Families and Health by a vote of 14 to 1.

This substitute revises a provision pertaining to suspension or
expulsion of school children in Missouri.

School boards are prohibited from requiring a parent or guardian
to administer psychotropic medications to a child as a condition
of admittance or re-admittance to a school after the child is
suspended.

The substitute also requires licensed physicians with
prescriptive authority to obtain written informed consent from a
parent or guardian and follow specified procedures before
prescribing psychotropic medications to a child.  School
personnel are prohibited from recommending the use of
psychotropic drugs by school children or coercing or intimidating
parents or guardians into seeking psychotropic medications,
psychiatric diagnoses, or treatments for school children.

Refusal of a parent or guardian to the written informed consent
provision of the substitute will not constitute grounds for a
finding of educational neglect or medical neglect which can be
used by the Department of Social Services as a basis for
protective custody proceedings.

FISCAL NOTE:  Not available at time of printing.

PROPONENTS:  Supporters say that in some instances, school
administrators and other non-medical staff have too much
discretion when allowed to recommend that school children be
placed on psychotropic medications.  The bill will provide
parents more input concerning the medical treatment provided to
their children.  Parents should not be accused of medical neglect
or child neglect for failure to have their children placed on
psychotropic medications.

Testifying for the bill were Representatives Selby and
Bartelsmeyer; Linda M. Cunningham; Lori Fisher; Ellen Forney; and
Concerned Women of Missouri.

OPPONENTS:  Those who oppose the bill say that various provisions
of the bill are costly, unnecessary, and burdensome, including
the requirement that school children be evaluated by a
pediatrician before psychotropic medications are prescribed (this
provision was removed by the substitute).  In case of a medical
emergency involving school children, hospitals would have to
require that emergency room staff include a pediatrician on each
rotation (this was also removed by the substitute).  Schools
should conduct proper behavioral assessments of school children
and that the behavioral treatment team should include doctors,
educators, school nurses, and parents.

Testifying against the bill were Eastern Missouri Psychiatric
Society; Missouri State Medical Association; Missouri Hospital
Association; Missouri Statewide Parent Advisory Network; and
Rhonda Flynn.

Joseph Deering, Legislative Analyst

Missouri House of Representatives
Last Updated October 11, 2002 at 9:02 am