Jennifer Hancock, president-elect of Volunteers of America of Kentucky, said the doctor and patient must develop "a mutual, respectful, helping relationship" in which the woman feels supported. Paul Jarris, executive director of the health officials' association. Screening could save babies from such suffering and works best when doctors are non-judgmental so moms feel safe enough to be honest about drug use, said Dr. "There's not a lot known about the long-term effects" because the problem is relatively new. Michael Warren, maternal and child health director for the Tennessee Department of Health. "In the short term, they may have problems feeding or growing," said Dr. Watch Video: Pregnant mother sought treatment for heroin addiction
All require swaddling, rocking and cuddling. Those born prematurely may experience respiratory distress and may need to be put on ventilators.įirst-line therapy for severely affected babies is morphine, sometimes along with other medicines, although babies with milder cases often don't need medicine. They tremble, sweat and cry inconsolably, and are extra-sensitive to noise and light. Many drug-dependent infants suffer diarrhea, vomiting, low-grade fevers, even seizures. "It's a time for the physician to educate the patient and help them get into treatment, which can lead to better outcomes." Jessica Young of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, a fellow with the obstetricians' group. "Substance abuse screening is critically important in pregnancy," said Dr. Those whose answers warrant would undergo a urine screening if they consented, with doctors making them aware of the possible legal consequences of a positive result, such as the need to notify child services. The obstetricians' group recommends screening first with a medically accepted questionnaire. "Nobody can look at another person and tell whether they have a problem," Ingram said. "They should screen everybody."ĭoctors routinely screen pregnant women for diseases such as HIV and hepatitis, and some say adding drug abuse to the list would reduce the stigma of addiction and keep women from being singled out based on race, income or appearance. "That would've been a good enough reason to stop," she said as her newborn's tiny fingers curled around hers. She said if her doctor had screened her urine, she suspects she would have gotten into treatment much sooner to avoid losing her children. Some pregnancy rights advocates argue screening may lead to punishment or loss of custody rather than treatment and sobriety.īut Kirchhubel disagrees. The American Medical Association also endorses universal screening. To help stem the tide, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials are calling for verbal drug screening followed by a urine test if warranted. Nationally, one drug-dependent baby is born every hour, according to the latest national statistics from a 2012 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, which showed incidence nearly tripled between 20. Watch Video: Video | How one new mother got clean Vermont saw its rate of drug-dependent infants rise from 3 per 1,000 deliveries to 26 per 1,000 in nine years, while Florida's rate more than tripled in five years. Those in Tennessee rose tenfold, to 672, between 19 - and already exceed 700 this year. Hospitalizations for the condition in Kentucky exploded from 28 in 2000 to 955 in 2013. Growing support for universal screening is a sign of how big the problem has become. "We need to do all we can to prevent this." "When a child's first days in this world are in agony, that certainly should be a concern to all of us," said Van Ingram, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy. 27.Īs the number of drug-dependent babies skyrockets, prominent groups of doctors, health officials and drug-control professionals are pushing to have all pregnant women screened for substance abuse so that the nation's opioid epidemic isn't passed on to so many young victims. It raged on, and she briefly turned to heroin before entering drug treatment early in her pregnancy with Isaiah, born Sept. The 31-year-old mother of four from Louisville abused pain pills for much of her pregnancy with her 3-year-old son Johnny, hiding her addiction from her obstetrician even when asked about drug use. Ashley Kirchhubel says only the grace of God protected her two youngest children from being born into the agony of drug withdrawal.
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