Foster Mom Arrested After Girl Dies From Fentanyl Overdose

Amy S.F. Lutz — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:35:00 GMT

Six-year-old Taylor Webster's neck hurt. So her foster mother, Joanne Alvarez, gave her some Baby Motrin: good parenting.

But when the Motrin didn't help, Alvarez attached a pain patch of prescription Fentanyl to the child's skin: bad parenting. Bad, bad, bad parenting.

Taylor was found unconscious in her East Harlem apartment yesterday afternoon. She was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Alvarez was arrested and charged with criminally negligent homicide. And I can't decide whether or not I think that's a good thing. I mean, it seems pretty clear that Alvarez was just trying to help Taylor feel better - if she wanted to poison the kid, why start with Baby Motrin? But the leap to an adult dose of Fentanyl is hard to fathom. Fentanyl is a hard-core analgesic that's prescribed when milder, oral painkillers have failed. One dose controls pain for up to three days.

There's no doubt that children depend on their guardians to keep them safe, and adults need to be very careful when administering medicine to children. But I can't help but ask myself whether a Park Avenue mom who accidentally overdosed her kid would also be charged with criminally negligent homicide, or whether the police would simply tsk, "Hasn't she suffered enough?"

Better Parenting through Chemistry and Heath Ledger's Death

Rachael Brownell (Redsy) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Today's announcement that Heath Ledger's death was caused by an accidental overdose of prescription medications is at once a relief (at least he didn't kill himself) and a cause for surveys of medicine cabinets. Heath Ledger suffered from anxiety, depression, and insomnia.. any and all of which are routinely treated with prescription medications.

Heath Ledger's family released a statement with this warning:

Heath's accidental death serves as a caution to the hidden dangers of combining prescription medication, even at low dosage.

With more than 40% of Americans taking prescription medications, coupled with an increased awareness of the ways in which stress, anxiety, and depression impact new parents, the likelihood that more children will be orphaned by accidental overdose is increasing.

Remember Anna Nicole Smith?

Strollerderby : accidental overdose

Foster Mom Arrested After Girl Dies From Fentanyl Overdose

Better Parenting through Chemistry and Heath Ledger's Death