Does quality of life outweigh the cardiovascular risks of stimulant medication in a child with ADHD and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?

A 10-year-old girl with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The stimulant medications used to control her ADHD pose possibly fatal risks to her cardiovascular health, so stimulant medication is stopped. Due to very poor quality of life off of medication, alternative therapies are used without improvement. The patient's caretakers decide that the benefits of stimulant medication outweigh the risks to the patient. The healthcare team clears the patient to be put back on stimulant medication with a signed waiver of liability by her caretakers. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.