Born Addicted
An Increasing Number of Babies Hooked On Drugs
The Nashville newspaper The Tennessean recently ran a report on a disturbing public health trend which is the subject of increasing concern in Tennessee and throughout the country. More and more babies are being born into the hell of neonatal abstinence syndrome, a condition which occurs when a mother uses prescription painkillers or other powerful drugs during the course of her pregnancy. The baby becomes addicted to the drug, and as soon as he or she enters the world the supply of the drug is suddenly cut off, with the result that within a short period of time the baby begins to suffer the notoriously painful and torturous symptoms of drug withdrawal.
A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan found that the current nationwide rate of neonatal abstinence syndrome is sitting at approximately one baby being born addicted to opiates every hour. Tennessee has one of the worst rates of NAS, according to the story featured in the Nashville newspaper. The Tennessee Department of Human Services reports that there has been a tenfold increase in the rate of NAS between 2000 and 2010. Whereas the rate was less than 1 out of every 1,000 births in 2001, this number doubled by 2006, and it reached 6.5 per 1,000 births in 2010, while in 2011 it pushed even higher to 7.6 per 1,000 births, a figure which equates to approximately 600 babies.
Despite the fact that most hospital personnel have grown accustomed to seeing patients in severe pain and often with major wounds, the symptoms of neonatal abstinence syndrome are difficult and upsetting to witness for many doctors and nurses who are called upon to care for these poor children. The newborn baby spends his or her first days of life shaking from pain, sweating, suffering from diarrhea and having such a hard time feeding that an intravenous fluid drip is necessary to maintain adequate hydration. Instead of spending most of his or her time in mother’s arms breastfeeding, sleeping and bonding, the baby is often left in a clear plastic bassinet in a neonatal intensive care unit, being supervised by the nurses and doctors who are concerned to see to it that the baby survives this ordeal with a minimum of future health complications.
To provide some ease from the suffering of withdrawal, many of the babies are given methadone, itself a powerful painkiller. The baby must be slowly and carefully weaned off this drug in order to avoid a recurrence of symptoms. Children who were born with NAS frequently suffer from other problems later in life, such as being diagnosed with autism or ADHD and subsequently being placed on drugs to treat those conditions.
Are The Mothers To Blame?
Unlike the Crack Baby epidemic of the 1980s, during which astonishing numbers of children were being born to mothers who had been smoking crack cocaine during pregnancy, the current wave of NAS is not the result of street drugs. By far the most common drugs found in cases of neonatal abstinence syndrome are prescription pain medications including Vicodin (hydrocodone), Oxycontin (oxycodone) and other opiates. While it is true that many people who are addicted to painkillers buy them from drug dealers or steal them from patients, 60 percent of the mothers of children born with NAS in Tennessee have been using the drugs with a legal prescription and under a doctor’s prescription.
This serves to underscore just how dangerous these drugs are, as well as the persistent ignorance concerning this danger. Many of these mothers were simply following the doctor’s advice, and as a result, she may herself have become addicted, in addition to receiving the absolutely devastating news that she has caused her precious newborn to enter life in the torture of opiate withdrawals. Further, many children born with NAS end up being taken by child protective services. The recent rise in neonatal abstinence syndrome joins other disturbing statistics such as the 15,000 people who die from painkiller overdose every year and the tens of millions of Americans who abuse these drugs as evidence of the enormous public safety hazard posed by prescription pain medications.
Source:
®