A Cheverly, Md., woman has filed a $3-million malpractice suit against doctors who prescribed the drug Ritalin for her hyperactive 7-year-old son.
As a result of using the medication, Norma Sue Gardner charges in the suit, the boy has experienced muscle spasms, hallucinations, severe headaches, and other6symptoms, which have not abated since he stopped using the drug. Ms. Gardner filed suit Oct. 19 against Children’s National Medical Center in Washington and two of its doctors.
Concern over the possible misuse of Ritalin, an amphetamine used to treat children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, has increased over the past year as sales of the drug have risen. (See Education Week, Oct. 21, 1987.)
