Mark Duell : 25th June 2011
A six-week-old baby died after she received lethal doses of the painkiller morphine through her mother's breast milk, police said.
Alexis was found dead in her bed at the home of her mother Stephanie Greene, 37, in Campobello, South Carolina.
The painkiller allegedly got into Greene’s breast milk after she took pills and used patches containing morphine after the child’s birth.
A homicide investigation was opened in January and autopsy results showed a lethal level of morphine in the child's body.
Greene has since been charged with homicide by child abuse.
La Leche League International is an organisation that encourages breast-feeding in new mothers.
Breast-feeding mothers are allowed to take morphine because low levels of it pass into the mother's milk when taken properly, an organisation spokesman said.
‘Most drugs like morphine pass so poorly through human milk that it is nearly impossible for a child to have a therapeutic dose, much less a lethal dose,’ the spokesman said.
But authorities said their investigation shows Greene illegally obtained the drugs at least 38 times in less than two years at a Spartanburg pharmacy.
That led authorities to also charge Greene with 38 counts of violating drug distribution laws. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison for each felony count and also faces 20 years to life in prison if convicted of homicide by child abuse.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007985/Six-week-old-baby-dies-overdosing-morphine-mothers-breast-milk-South-Carolina.html#ixzz1QNwELsYu
Charged: Alexis was found dead at the home of her mother Stephanie Greene, pictured, after morphine allegedly got into Greene's breast milk
A six-week-old baby died after she received lethal doses of the painkiller morphine through her mother's breast milk, police said.
Alexis was found dead in her bed at the home of her mother Stephanie Greene, 37, in Campobello, South Carolina.
The painkiller allegedly got into Greene’s breast milk after she took pills and used patches containing morphine after the child’s birth.
A homicide investigation was opened in January and autopsy results showed a lethal level of morphine in the child's body.
Greene has since been charged with homicide by child abuse.
La Leche League International is an organisation that encourages breast-feeding in new mothers.
Breast-feeding mothers are allowed to take morphine because low levels of it pass into the mother's milk when taken properly, an organisation spokesman said.
‘Most drugs like morphine pass so poorly through human milk that it is nearly impossible for a child to have a therapeutic dose, much less a lethal dose,’ the spokesman said.
But authorities said their investigation shows Greene illegally obtained the drugs at least 38 times in less than two years at a Spartanburg pharmacy.
Feeding: The painkiller allegedly got into Greene's breast milk after she took pills and used patches containing morphine after the child's birth (file picture)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2007985/Six-week-old-baby-dies-overdosing-morphine-mothers-breast-milk-South-Carolina.html#ixzz1QNwELsYu
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