My fiancee's ex has had his five year old son diagnosed as bipolar. The dr put him on Risperdal, a very serious pyschotropic drug. My fiancee does not agree with this one bit. Is there anyway he can get a court order to have his son reevaluated by another dr? He has joint custody, so he has a say in everything. The divorce was finalized in KS. Also, if he can do this, does he need an attorney? Or can he just get it done through the court trustee? We desperately need advice on this. His son isn't the same since he's been put on this drug, and I wouldn't want him to have any awful side effects from this drug in the future. I hope it's not too late.
And if it's proven that he's not bipolar, can we go after his ex for physical custody-grounds that she was committing child abuse (medication when not needed)? Thanks! :confused:

My fiancee's ex has had his five year old son diagnosed as bipolar. The dr put him on Risperdal, a very serious pyschotropic drug. My fiancee does not agree with this one bit. Is there anyway he can get a court order to have his son reevaluated by another dr? He has joint custody, so he has a say in everything. The divorce was finalized in KS. Also, if he can do this, does he need an attorney? Or can he just get it done through the court trustee? We desperately need advice on this. His son isn't the same since he's been put on this drug, and I wouldn't want him to have any awful side effects from this drug in the future. I hope it's not too late.
And if it's proven that he's not bipolar, can we go after his ex for physical custody-grounds that she was committing child abuse (medication when not needed)? Thanks! :confused:
Your fiancee can file an emergency motion asking for an order preventing mom from giving the child the prescribed medication until a second eval/opinion can be obtained. He should do this ASAP.

It is HIGHLY unusual for a 5 year old to be diagnosed as bi-polar to begin with. At that age bi-polar disorder is extremely difficult to diagnose because there are so many other disorders that would be more likely. Also, it is not good medical practice to put such a young child on strong physotropic drug that can have many dangerous side effects.

If he can afford an attorney it will help, but he can do it without one also. He needs to research all he can about bi-polar depression, medications, and other possible disorders. Do google searches. Webmd has some good links in it also. Another good resource is the National Depressive Manic Depressive Association, which can be found thru google (sorry, I forget what thier address is).

Sorry, but giving a child medically prescribed medication, in and of itself, is not a valid reason to change custody. It is possible that the mother honestly believes what the Dr. has said and feels that she's doing the right thing. When your fiancee finds info on this drug's side effects, it can't hurt for him to give the mother copies so that at least she'll be aware of the possibilities.

Xena :)