Woman accused after baby's death is blamed on drugs in her breast milk

A Pennsylvania woman was charged last week with criminal homicide in the death of her 11-week-old son after an autopsy indicating that he had died of after ingesting a combination of drugs in his breast milk.

During her pregnancy, the woman, Samantha Jones, 30, was prescribed methadone because of an addiction to painkillers.

She told the police that she had been breastfeeding her son since birth, which is generally recommended including for women who take methadone to treat opioid addiction. Medical experts believe that the many benefits of breastfeeding outweigh the effects of the small amount of methadone that enters breast milk.

Three days before his son's death, Jones began feeding his mother, she said, because she did not think she had enough milk. She told police that around 2 am on April 2, she tried to breastfeed but was not sure about having hung on her chest. Around 6:00 am, her husband said that he made the baby a bottle of formula that Jones fed before falling asleep. An hour later, Jones called 911 after finding his infant son with bloody mucus coming out of his nose.

He was transferred to hospital in cardiac arrest and was declared dead.

An autopsy determined that he died of a combination of methadone, amphetamine and methamphetamine transmitted by Jones breast milk, according to the Bucks Bureau's prosecution documents. County County Attorney

Jones is incarcerated, with bail set at $ 3 million in cash. Kristin McElroy, the deputy district attorney assigned to the case, said in a statement that Jones could face murder charges that involve a mandatory life sentence.

As the opioid crisis tore the country apart, advocates say that there were hundreds of cases of women arrested for allegedly harming their unborn or unborn children. Drugs. A gap separates health professionals, who argue that drug abuse should be treated as a public health problem, and state legislators, many of whom have adopted repressive measures that put mothers behind bars.

In Pennsylvania, where Governor Tom Wolf (D) stated that opioids and heroin used an emergency catastrophe it is estimated that 2% of babies are exposed to opiates prescribed or illegal in utero [19659002] In 2017, a Pennsylvania woman, Kasey Dischman, aged 31, was charged with aggravated assault on an unborn child after taking a heroin overdose while she was seven months pregnant, forcing an emergency cesarean section. The prosecution has been dropped because, according to state law, women can not be charged with aggravated assault against their unborn children.

The cases of women accused of hurting their babies with contaminated breast milk are relatively rare. not always clear cut .

Poj Lysouvakon, MD, the pediatric medical director of the Mother-Baby Unit of the Medical Center of the University of Chicago warned that the presence of drugs in the bloodstream of An infant does not mean that she was the cause of death.

"There is not much research on the potential negative effects that small amounts of illicit drugs found in breast milk can have on babies," he said. "This may have been a factor, but it's the only cause? Without knowing the baby's birth history, it's hard to say."

He has noted that amphetamines are used as a treatment for certain medical conditions, such as narcolepsy, and research has found little negative effects on infants.

Louis Busico, Jones's attorney, says that She did not intentionally hurt her baby and she was struggling to get out behind bars

"She suffered the greatest loss of a being human – the loss of a child – and now she is incarcerated because of this loss, "he said. "This woman absolutely loved and loved her little son.It is a horrible accident, unfathomable."

He said that he was waiting for a copy of the autopsy report to review the evidence showing that Jones's mother's milk killed the boy.

"I can not talk about quantitative analysis because I do not have the right to toxicology yet," he said. "All I can see is that a coroner labeled this as a homicide."

He said that he did not know of any similar cases involving breastfeeding in Pennsylvania, although there were a handful in other states. In 2006, a Californian woman, Amy Leanne Prien was convicted of manslaughter after her three-month-old son died of a drug overdose whose attorneys alleged that they had been in prison. it was caused by breast milk. In 2012, Maggie Jean Wortman was sentenced to six years in prison after her six-week-old baby died of "methamphetamine toxicity" from breastfeeding, according to an autopsy.

In 2014, 34-year-old Iuni Moana Malo was charged with endangering a controlled substance for breastfeeding after having used methamphetamine, cocaine and alcohol. Marijuana

Nancy Rosenbloom, National Advocates for Pregnant Women, said that charges like the one Jones faces are misusing the criminal justice system and could discourage other women on methadone. breastfeeding, even if the medical experts recommend it.

"People make assumptions based on myths and not based on science," she said. "The fact that charges such as this continue to be brought against breastfeeding mothers reflects the stigma attached to mothers who consume any drug."

"If someone one has a substance abuse problem, one should be offered treatment. "She added.