The Medicated Child

After watching " The Medicated Child" and reading the articles by Groopman and Friedman, I have developed a claim of fact regarding the issue of perscribing medicatons to young children. My claim of value states, prescribing these prescription drugs to children is dangerous and can often times lead to more harm than good. My claim of value identifies a great problem concerning prescription drugs among children which is how dangerous this issue actually is. During the movie there was a family who medicated their son on multiple drugs to help with his behvaior, personality, and attitude. However, what they were not aware of was inorder to treat one problem the side effects created another which needed attention. Therefore, in the end their childs situation ends up being worse than what it orignially was because of the medication. In addition, these doctors are prescribing these drugs to children at a very young age when they are still developing and growing. That being said often times these doctors are not even one hundred percent sure what these children actually have because the children have not developed fully. For example the one of the doctors in the film states that he believes the best way to treat these children is through medication so a future problem can be prevented. This same doctor states that even if he is not sure if the child actually has a problem he still medicates them because he believes the medication will catch and prevent further issues. With that, this can be very risky and dangerous for these children because it could cause more issues for the child while taking the medications and in the future.

Next, I am going to develope a claim of policy that proposes a solution to the problem indicated above. My claim of policy would state the following; all doctors should fully and thoughly exaime a child for a certain period of time before prescribing any medication. During this time testing is key because it can act as a benchmark for the child and track progress. After a certain amount of time has passed, and the doctor feels confident, then it is appropriate it prescribe medication to treat the issue.