- Home
- Premium Memberships
- Lottery Results
- Forums
- Predictions
- Lottery Post Videos
- News
- Search Drawings
- Search Lottery Post
- Lottery Systems
- Lottery Charts
- Lottery Wheels
- Worldwide Jackpots
- Quick Picks
- On This Day in History
- Blogs
- Online Games
- Premium Features
- Contact Us
- Whitelist Lottery Post
- Rules
- Lottery Book Store
- Lottery Post Gift Shop
The time is now 9:19 pm
You last visited
April 29, 2024, 9:19 pm
All times shown are
Eastern Time (GMT-5:00)
Officials fear for babies born to oxycodone addicts
Published:
Officials fear for infants born to prescription drug addicts
- Hundreds of Florida babies have been born addicted to drugs
- Infants "go through withdrawal symptoms," nurse says
- Government says prescription drug abuse is nation's fastest-growing drug problem
- Mothers are often reluctant to seek help
"We saw the number of crack babies that died, and this is just another version of that," Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti said. "We all need to be concerned."
According to state health records, 635 Florida babies were born addicted to prescription drugs in the first half of 2010 alone. South Florida doctors and intensive care nurses report an dramatic uptick in babies born hooked on pills that their mothers abused while pregnant.
"They go through withdrawal symptoms," said Mary Osuch, the head nurse at Broward General Medical Center's neonatal intensive care unit. "They're crampy, miserable. They sweat. They can have rapid breathing. Sometimes, they can even have seizures."
According to the White House Office on Drug Control Policy, prescription drug abuse is the nation's fastest-growing drug problem.
Marsha Currant, who runs the Susan B. Anthony Recovery Center near Fort Lauderdale, says prescription drug addiction overtook crack in 2009 as the main problem afflicting the pregnant women who are treated there.
"In the very beginning, it was really 100% crack cocaine," said Currant, who started keeping track of drug trends in 1995. "We see a lot more prescription drugs now."
Currant says new mothers who are hooked on prescription drugs are often reluctant to seek help for fear the authorities will take their babies from them.
"We wanted to have a place where women didn't have to chose between getting treatment and having their children go into foster care," she said.
Compounding the problem, women who are addicted to prescription drugs and find themselves pregnant cannot safely go off the drugs without medical supervision. They need to be weaned off slowly, or the baby will go into withdrawal in the womb.
At the Susan B. Anthony Center, one mother who became hooked on prescription drugs after her husband died says she felt her baby suffering while she was getting clean.
"I know that I'm going through stuff getting off the pills. So what's she going through? She can't talk. She's just a baby," Jessica said.
Thanks to the center, Jessica was weaned off oxycodone before her baby, Casey, was born. But she fears the long-term effects of her drug abuse on her daughter, who has been suffering from respiratory problems.
"I want to make sure that she doesn't hurt anymore," Jessica said. "She doesn't deserve that, because she's a princess."
Jessica graduated from the center's recovery program last week.
Comments
Yes many babies are taken from the moms who show no stability in their lives. Who show no attempts to remove themselves from their opiate habits. But this is for the baby's sake, not to punish the mom. Mothers can get their babies back. But they have to work long and hard to prove they are responsible enough to take good care of another life without the threat of harm to this defenseless soul.
Post a Comment
Please Log In
To use this feature you must be logged into your Lottery Post account.
Not a member yet?
If you don't yet have a Lottery Post account, it's simple and free to create one! Just tap the Register button and after a quick process you'll be part of our lottery community.
Register