Doped at Birth

The newborn baby seemed normal. But after two days it began to vomit, cried & tossed in its crib, was seized by convulsions and fits of holding its breath. These all suggested symptoms of a drug addict suddenly deprived of his drug.

The baby was indeed a drug addict, born to a drug-addicted mother. After birth it was suffering the usual symptoms of an addict deprived of morphine.

This horrifying case, proving that drug-addicted mothers produce drug-addicted babies, was reported last week by Dr. Meyer A. Perlstein of Chicago in the American Medical Association Journal. Said the doctor: "Separation from the maternal circulation shuts off the supply of drug to the newborn. . . ." If not treated, the baby may die of convulsions within a.week. Dr. Perlstein used a standard treatment for drug addiction--sedatives. Tapered off the phenobarbital after eight weeks, his baby patient emerged safely from its morphine jag.

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