Drug Prescribed by Doctor Used to Overdose 4 year Old Girl

Little Rock, AR (Law Firm Newswire) March 30, 2011 – When a wrongful death involves a young child, it is heartbreaking. In this case, the parents and the child’s psychiatrist were guilty of causing the child’s death.

“This was a really tough case and it resulted in the wrongful death of a 4-year-old little girl who is dead as a result of an overdose of psychiatric drugs prescribed by the doctor named in the suit. Shockingly, the parents were convicted of killing their daughter by negligently giving her drugs for ADHD and bipolar disease,” said Michael G. Smith, an Arkansas injury lawyer and Arkansas accident lawyer, practicing personal injury law in Arkansas.

The settlement in the case was based on the maximum amount of medical malpractice insurance that may be paid out on behalf of a doctor. Because there was a full payout to the maximum allowable limit, the family may assume that the doctor was indeed culpable in the child’s death, even though there was no admission of wrongdoing on the part of the doctor.

“At the time of the little girl’s death, all three of the children had been seeing the same doctor and were receiving the same medications. There were questions about why the doctor was not held criminally negligent in the death as well. Testimony at trial indicated the psychiatrist had been duped by the parents into believing their children had major psychiatric problems. Evidently, this was done so the parents could collect federal disability checks,” Smith said.

The sad part of this whole affair is that the doctor seemingly did not know that the parents were giving extra medication to their children. While it is nice that the case was settled in favor of the estate of the 4-year-old girl, no amount of money will ever make the situation right or bring her back to life. That is part of the reason why people file wrongful death lawsuits – to obtain justice and to get financial compensation for the loss to allow them to continue on with their lives.

Wrongful death lawsuits are not about getting even with the people who caused the death, as compensation will not make up for the loss of a loved family member. Suing for compensation is not about greedy people wanting to punish someone and get money. It is about making the life of the survivors easier. They should not have to suffer financial ramifications as a result of a death caused by someone else.

“Do you know when you have a wrongful death case? If the death of your loved one happened as the result of a drunk driver, reckless, speeding trucker, auto accident, unsafe premises or a defective product or a medication error, like this case, you may have a wrongful death case. By all means, if you aren’t sure, give my office a call. I would welcome the chance to talk to you,” Smith said.

Learn more by contacting Arkansas personal injury lawyer, Michael Smith at http://www.arkansaslawhelp.com.

Michael Smith
425 W. Capitol Av., Suite 3700
Little Rock, AR 72201
Call: 501.519.4357