Psychiatrist will not be prosecuted in girl’s death
The child psychiatrist of Rebecca Riley, a 4-year-old girl who died of an overdose of psychiatric drugs, will not be criminally prosecuted in her death, clearing one of several legal hurdles that the doctor faces in connection with the child’s death.
Plymouth District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz announced yesterday that a grand jury has declined to indict Dr. Kayoko Kifuji of Tufts Medical Center. Kifuji had treated the Hull girl for bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder since she was 2.
When the girl died on Dec. 13, 2006, she was taking three psychotropic medications.
While Rebecca’s death cast a harsh spotlight on Kifuji and renewed calls for tighter restrictions on psychiatric drugs for children, Kifuji’s lawyers have asserted that she was a compassionate clinician who ordered safe dosages of all medications.
Michael and Carolyn Riley face murder charges in what prosecutors say was a pattern of over-medicating their daughter in an effort to sedate her.
Soon after Rebecca died, the Board of Registration in Medicine began an investigation, and Kifuji voluntarily suspended her practice.
“The next step for her will be the reinstatement of her license to practice medicine,’’ her lawyer, Bruce Singal of Boston, said yesterday.
Kifuji also faces a medical malpractice suit filed last year by the administrator of the girl’s estate.
