Bipolar Children, A Star Psychiatrist, And A $3 Million Project Meltdown

A prominent university psychiatrist challenged the study's guidelines, putting young children's lives in danger. This resulted in the failure of a $3 million research project, with the university being penalized for its malfeasance.

For the past two decades, a university in the United States has highlighted one of its child psychiatrists as one of its scholars. The doctor had established a well-known clinic to treat youngsters with bipolar disorder and had received millions of dollars in coveted federal funding to help break down the disease's secrecy. Parents from all across the country brought their children to her in the hopes of receiving therapy. The psychiatrist also helped the university's reputation in the field of child psychiatry.

However, as her celebrity grew, she put some of these predominately vulnerable children in grave danger in one of her clinical trials. She violated study protocols by trying the strong medication lithium on youngsters under the age of 13, despite being specifically denied permission. To compound the shortcomings, she failed to adequately notify parents of the study's hazards and changed data to conceal the misbehavior.

The psychiatrist had began the study in 2009, with the goal of using imaging to examine how the brains of teenagers with bipolar disorder work during a manic state, and then again after eight weeks of lithium medication. However, the psychiatrist deviated from the official guidelines and ignored safety precautions outlined in the study protocol. As a result of safety concerns, the project was terminated in 2013.

89 of the 103 people engaged in the clinical studies she launched were not even eligible to participate in the trials. Furthermore, the age range of the children in the study was strictly defined as 13 to 16 years. However, many of the children were discovered to be younger than 10 years old, greatly increasing the risk of the study. A handful of the patients were on psychotropic medication, which is not allowed under the guidelines.

The entire circumstance begs the question, "Is it only the psychiatrist's fault?" Although it is the responsibility of the lead researcher to maintain the ethics of the research, every university has policies and committees to supervise and to whom the researcher reports regarding the words. It is clear that there was a situation of ignoring responsibilities, which, if not contained, would have put the participating patients at risk.?

Source:

Cohen, J.S. (2018) The 'meltdown' of a $3 million research project (no date) The Wire. Available at: https://thewire.in/the-sciences/the-meltdown-of-a-3-million-research-project.