The LA Times reports that a local mom noticed her son was not feeling well and took him to a hospital emergency room at 3:30 am earlier this month.
The mom explained to hospital staff that she thought her son might be suffering from an allergic reaction to a new shampoo.
The doctors, however, did an exam and discovered the one-year-old was showing symptoms of a child who was exposed to illegal drugs.
The hospital ER staff called the Oakdale Police Department. The police officers then searched 28-year-old Tenessa Price and found she was in possession of the drug methamphetamine.
The baby also tested positive for meth.
Price was arrested for child endangerment shortly thereafter.
The infant was then transported to another hospital to receive an extended course of detox treatment. The baby will stay in the care of Child Protective Services after he recovers “due to the severity of the case.”
Note that the Oakdale Police Department would not specify the exact symptoms that the doctors recognized in this case.
However, according to Stanford University, some signs of withdrawal for babies addicted to illegal drugs include twitching, seizure, unexplained fevers, ongoing diarrhea, vomiting, sweating, and sleeping problems.
Keep in mind the problem of children who are born to drug-addicted parents isn’t new, and almost everyone agrees that current efforts to solve the problem have not been effective.
Some argue that law enforcement currently sends the wrong message to drug abusing parents by arresting them. They point out that parents often feel they can’t take their children in to receive medical assistance because they fear they will be arrested.
That said, infants being cared for drug-addicted parents are clearly at higher risk for harm. A report on NBC noted that that hundreds of children in the US die every year in the care of drug-addicted parents who cannot take adequate care of their babies.
Here’s the official report:
Source: Independent Journal Review
Photo: Independent Journal Review
