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Medicaid Cuts Miami Psychiatrist Who Prescribed Psychotropic Drugs to Autistic Boy

The closely watched story of Denis Maltez, the 12-year-old Autistic boy who the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner said died of “serotonin syndrome” after being prescribed several psychotropic drugs, took a new turn this week as the prescribing psychiatrist was dropped from Medicaid’s rolls as a medical provider serving the state’s insurance program for disabled and needy children.

More importantly, the Agency for Health Care Administration needs to monitor all physicians who blatantly ignore their “red flag” warning letters, said Howard Talenfeld, attorney for the boy’s mother, Martha Quesada.

“Unfortunately, Florida has no procedure to protect the patients of physicians who write behavioral healthcare prescriptions that exceed thresholds and who ignore the letters from the University of South Florida Medicaid Drug Therapy Program,” Talenfeld told the Miami Herald.

“Nor does the state tell the parents or guardians of mentally disabled persons or foster children that these drugs prescriptions may be dangerous or monitor whether or not the physicians obtained informed consent from them.”

Read the entire Miami Herald story here.

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