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Thursday, 28 February 2008 |
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Psychiatrist testifies he prescribed three drugs at first session
Regardless of what killed Cheyenne Delp on June 26, 2004, she was a child under the influence of heavy medication the day she died.
The medicine Cheyenne was prescribed was so powerful, she had to undergo an EKG to determine if her heart was healthy enough for her to take Imipramine, a heavy duty anti-depressant.
Dr. Saran Mudumbi, who said his specialty is child psychiatry, testified Monday that he prescribed the assortment of drugs for Cheyenne because her behavior was out of control, according to her guardian, Sherri Mathis.
"She was aggressive to other children and was kicked out of school because of it," said Dr. Mudumbi, who went on to contend Cheyenne suffered from paranoia, depression and anxiety. "She was thinking other people were against her, trying to get her."
However, Dr. Mudumbi later admitted all the information he gathered about Cheyenne was provided by Mathis, or Cheyenne herself. Dr. Mudumbi indicated he tried to get other people involved in Cheyenne's life to attend the appointments, but that never occurred. He said Mathis was the only person who accompanied Cheyenne to his office.
"I wanted to construct a total picture of how she's doing," said Dr. Mudumbi, who indicated school teachers and other family members would have been appropriate to bring.
Dr. Mudumbi said Cheyenne had 13 visits to his office, the first on April 3, 2003, and the last on May 21, 2004, roughly one month before she died.
After her initial visit, Cheyenne was given three types of medication: Strattera (to control attention deficit disorder), Risperdal (to treat schizophrenia or severe depression), and Imipramine (to treat severe depression).
After two weeks, on April 17, 2003, Dr. Mudumbi said he took Cheyenne off Strattera at the request of Mathis. He testified Mathis wasn't satisfied with its effectiveness.
So Dr. Mudumbi replaced Strattera with Tenex, the brand name for Guanfacine. He also doubled Cheyenne's dose of Imipramine to 50 mg daily.
About three weeks later, on May 8, 2003, Dr. Mudumbi said Mathis still wasn't satisfied with the medication. That's when he added Seroquel to the mix.
Along with Benadryl, which had already been prescribed to help with side effects of the other medicines, Cheyenne was taking five prescriptions daily in May 2003. At that time, she was 5 years old.
Special prosecutor Brian Holmgren questioned Dr. Mudumbi about all the medication. Dr. Mudumbi said he wouldn't have prescribed so much without the input from Mathis.
"I still would have prescribed the Tenex, but nothing else," Dr. Mudumbi said.
Prescriptions drugs Cheyenne was taking
Here's a list of the prescription medication Cheyenne Delp was taking at the time of her death, according to her psychiatrist Dr. Saran Mudumbi:
Imipramine
Risperdal
Guanfacine
Benadryl
Seroquel
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