HB 1677 -- Psychotropic Medications for Minors

Co-Sponsors:  Selby, Bray, Bartelsmeyer

This bill revises provisions pertaining to compulsory school
attendance and suspension or expulsion of school children in
Missouri.

If a school, medical staff, certified school counselor, or school
social worker identifies a child with behaviors which could
result in self-harm or harm to others or is determined to
represent a clinical level of deviance, the school can refuse to
admit the child until a mental health assessment has been
completed by a licensed mental health care professional and a
treatment plan is established.

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 being suspended.
School boards are required to adopt and implement policies
prohibiting school personnel from recommending the use of
psychotropic medications for any child.  Recommendations for
mental health evaluations of a child or consultations with mental
health care professionals by authorized school personnel with the
consent of a parent or guardian are not prohibited.

The bill requires licensed physicians with prescriptive authority
to follow specified procedures before prescribing psychotropic
medications to a child.  Refusal of a parent to such treatment
will not result in the commencement of protective custody
proceedings unless the refusal results in child abuse or neglect.

Licensed mental health care professionals who prescribe
psychotrophic medications for minors are required to provide a
list of all medications taken by the child to the parent or
guardian of the child and to the Department of Mental Health.
The department is required to track the number of medications and
the types of medications prescribed to minors in Missouri.

A licensed health care professional who violates the provisions
of the bill is guilty of the unlawful practice of medicine.

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