Health News
Increasing drug abuse drove up hospitalizations of drug-dependent newborns in Kentucky by 48 percent last year, to 1,409 from 955 in 2013. "The latest numbers represent a 50-fold increase from only 28 hospitalizations in 2000," reports Laura Ungar of The Courier-Journal.
"The seemingly never-ending increase every year is so frustrating to see," Van Ingram, executive director of the state Office of Drug Control Policy, told Ungar. "It's a horrible thing to spend the first days of your life in agony."
"These infants are born into suffering," Ungar writes. "They cry piercingly and often. They suffer vomiting, diarrhea, feeding difficulties, low-grade fevers, seizures ? and even respiratory distress if they're born prematurely."
Drug-dependent newborns are becoming more common nationwide, Ungar notes, but "Vanderbilt University researchers publishing in the Journal of Perinatology [a subspecialty of obstetrics concerned with the care of the fetus and complicated, high-risk pregnancies] say rates are highest in a region encompassing Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky."
While the increase is blamed mostly on illegal drug use, the Vanderbilt study found that 28 percent of pregnant Medicaid recipients in Tennessee filled at least one painkiller prescription, Ungar writes: "Legitimate use not only raises the risk of having a drug-dependent baby, it can sometimes lead to abuse and addiction."
While Medicaid now pays for behavioral-health and substance-abuse treatment, "Drug treatment for pregnant women is sorely lacking," Ungar reports. In Kentucky, only 71 of the 286 treatment facilities listed by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration treat pregnant women.
- Lawmakers And Health Officials Meet To Discuss Increased Use Of Heroin During Pregnancy And Thus, More Addicted Babies
Health officials and lawmakers met at the University of Kentucky Hospital Aug. 10 to discuss the increasing use of heroin among pregnant women and how this has caused a huge increase in the number of babies being born addicted to the drug. "The number...
- Ky. Gets $3 Million Grant To Expand Substance Abuse Treatment For Pregnant Women After Big Jump In Drug-dependent Newborns
Kentucky will receive up to $3 million in federal grants over three years to provide expanded substance abuse treatment for pregnant and postpartum women in the Bluegrass and Cumberland regions of the state, according to a news release from the governor's...
- Managed-care Doctor Creates Process To Steer Pregnant Medicaid Recipients Who Are Using Dangerous Drugs Into Treatment
When Dr. Jeremy Corbett of Lexington found that "nearly one in five pregnant women enrolled in the Medicaid managed-care program where he works were using narcotics or other harmful drugs," he tackled the problem. As medical director of the...
- Oregon May Show The Way For Kentucky In Drug Treatment
In facing up to its need for more drug-treatment facilities, Kentucky could learn some lessons from Oregon, Courier-Journal reporter Laura Ungar writes in the third and last part of her package of stories about drug treatment, or lack of it, in our state: "Oregon,...
- Directory Listing 2,500 Substance-abuse Treatment Resources In Kentucky Released; Every County Has At Least One Facility
There are 2,500 resources for substance abuse treatment in Kentucky, with at least one in each county, research at the University of Kentucky has found. "In addition to the 345 state-certified substance abuse treatment providers listed in the directory,...
Health News
Half again as many Kentucky newborns were hospitalized for drug dependency last year as the year before
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| Mother Samantha Adams and her newborn Leopoldo Bautista, 10 days old, spend quality time inside the Louisville Norton Healthcare child care center for children experiencing drug withdrawal. (Photo by Alton Strupp, The Courier-Journal) |
"The seemingly never-ending increase every year is so frustrating to see," Van Ingram, executive director of the state Office of Drug Control Policy, told Ungar. "It's a horrible thing to spend the first days of your life in agony."
"These infants are born into suffering," Ungar writes. "They cry piercingly and often. They suffer vomiting, diarrhea, feeding difficulties, low-grade fevers, seizures ? and even respiratory distress if they're born prematurely."
Drug-dependent newborns are becoming more common nationwide, Ungar notes, but "Vanderbilt University researchers publishing in the Journal of Perinatology [a subspecialty of obstetrics concerned with the care of the fetus and complicated, high-risk pregnancies] say rates are highest in a region encompassing Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Kentucky."
While the increase is blamed mostly on illegal drug use, the Vanderbilt study found that 28 percent of pregnant Medicaid recipients in Tennessee filled at least one painkiller prescription, Ungar writes: "Legitimate use not only raises the risk of having a drug-dependent baby, it can sometimes lead to abuse and addiction."
While Medicaid now pays for behavioral-health and substance-abuse treatment, "Drug treatment for pregnant women is sorely lacking," Ungar reports. In Kentucky, only 71 of the 286 treatment facilities listed by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration treat pregnant women.
- Lawmakers And Health Officials Meet To Discuss Increased Use Of Heroin During Pregnancy And Thus, More Addicted Babies
Health officials and lawmakers met at the University of Kentucky Hospital Aug. 10 to discuss the increasing use of heroin among pregnant women and how this has caused a huge increase in the number of babies being born addicted to the drug. "The number...
- Ky. Gets $3 Million Grant To Expand Substance Abuse Treatment For Pregnant Women After Big Jump In Drug-dependent Newborns
Kentucky will receive up to $3 million in federal grants over three years to provide expanded substance abuse treatment for pregnant and postpartum women in the Bluegrass and Cumberland regions of the state, according to a news release from the governor's...
- Managed-care Doctor Creates Process To Steer Pregnant Medicaid Recipients Who Are Using Dangerous Drugs Into Treatment
When Dr. Jeremy Corbett of Lexington found that "nearly one in five pregnant women enrolled in the Medicaid managed-care program where he works were using narcotics or other harmful drugs," he tackled the problem. As medical director of the...
- Oregon May Show The Way For Kentucky In Drug Treatment
In facing up to its need for more drug-treatment facilities, Kentucky could learn some lessons from Oregon, Courier-Journal reporter Laura Ungar writes in the third and last part of her package of stories about drug treatment, or lack of it, in our state: "Oregon,...
- Directory Listing 2,500 Substance-abuse Treatment Resources In Kentucky Released; Every County Has At Least One Facility
There are 2,500 resources for substance abuse treatment in Kentucky, with at least one in each county, research at the University of Kentucky has found. "In addition to the 345 state-certified substance abuse treatment providers listed in the directory,...