Questions arise after girl's death; parents say they followed doctor...

     This article in one of my local newspapers just touched my heart for this innocent "fallen angel" at the hands of those who were expected to defend and protect her. All across the country children are being slaughtered and for no good reason, why?

     "In the final months of Rebecca Riley's life, a school nurse said the girl was so weak, she was like a "floppy doll."
     "A principal had to help Rebecca off the bus because the four year old was shaking so badly. And a pharmacist complained that Rebecca's mother kept coming up with excuses for why her daughter needed more and more medication. None of their concerns was enough to save Rebecca."
      Do you honestly expect me to believe that no alarm bells were sounding off? You have a perfectly healthy, playful four year old one minute and for some reason she turns into a frail, sickly little girl and no one questioned what might be wrong?
     "Rebecca, who had attention deficit hyperactivity and bipolar disorder, died December 13, 2006 of an overdose of prescribed drugs. Her parents are accused of intentionally over medicating their daughter to keep her quiet and out of their hair."
     "The case is more than a story about one child. It raises troubling questions about the state of child psychiatry. Are rambunctious youngsters being medicated for their parents convenience?" ( I am sorry, but this is right out of what I have written about in my book. Yet another innocent "fallen angel" is no more.)
     "Can children as young as Rebecca be accurately diagnosed with mental illnesses? And should children so young be prescribed powerful psychotropic drugs meant for adults?"
     "Dispensing drugs to children with mood or behavior problems is "the easiest thing to do, but it is not always the best thing to do," said Dr. Jon McClellan, medical director of the Child Study and Treatment Center in Lakewood, Washington.
     "The medical examiner said Rebecca died of a combination of Clonidine, a blood pressure medication she had been prescribed for ADHD, Depakote, an anti seizure and mood stabilizing drug prescribed for her bipolar disorder, a cough suppressant and an antihistamine. The amount of Clonidine alone in her system was enough to be fatal, the medical examiner said."
     "Rebecca's parents say they were only following their doctor's orders. They told police that their daughter;s problems had been diagnosed when Rebecca was two and a half and that her psychiatrist prescribed the same potent drugs that had been prescribed for her older brother and sister when they had been found to have the same illnesses several years earlier."
   "Rebecca's uncle, James McGonnell, told police that the Rileys would put their kids to bed as early as five pm. Rebecca often slept through the day and got up only to eat. When Mr. Riley decided the kids were "acting up", he told his wife to give them pills, Mr. McGonnell told police."
     "Rebecca was found dead on the floor of her parents bedroom wearing only a pink pull up diaper and gold stud earrings, on top of a pile of clothes, magazines and a stuffed brown bear."
     "The medical examiner said Rebecca died a slow and painful death. She said the overdose of Clonidine caused her organs to shut down, filling her lungs with fluid and causing congestive heart failure. Police found only seven Clonidine tablets in the family's medicine tray. The pharmacist said there should have been seventy five.
     Oh, this poor little girl, all those people and not a one to take enough of an interest to try and protect her. Enough talking, I think I will just pray for awile for this little "fallen angel's" soul.