Police in Washington city issue alarm after 3 babies overdosed on fentanyl in less than a week
EVERETT, Wash. — Officials are sounding the alarm after a baby died and two others apparently also overdosed over the past week in separate cases where fentanyl was left unsecured in homes, authorities said.
A 911 caller reported Wednesday afternoon that a 13-month-old baby was not breathing in an Everett apartment, the Daily Herald reported. The baby later died at a hospital, according to the Everett Fire Department. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the baby’s official cause and manner of death, officials said.
Last Saturday, firefighters were called to a home after an 11-month-old child was found unresponsive by its parents, according to a news release from the Everett Fire and Police Department. The baby was given the opioid overdose medication naloxone before firefighters arrived and provided further medical care, authorities said. The child was then taken to a hospital and has since been released.
On Wednesday morning, a 911 caller said a 6-month-old baby was having trouble breathing. Arriving firefighters found the child unresponsive and administered medical care, including Narcan. The baby was in stable condition at Seattle Children’s Hospital on Thursday, according to the news release.
Investigators do not believe the cases are related, police said. They did not release any further information, including whether anyone has been arrested, saying the cases are still under investigation.
“The City of Everett is deeply concerned about increasing fentanyl overdoses involving young children,” the news release said, adding that opioid and fentanyl abuse is a growing concern in the state and across the U.S.
Fentanyl is a notoriously powerful drug that, in powder form, is increasingly being cut into heroin or other drugs. It has been one of the leading causes of America’s overdose epidemic in recent years. Children are particularly vulnerable to overdose because ingestion of even small amounts of the opioid residue can be fatal.
Health Department data shows that 38 children under the age of 18 died from an opioid-related overdose in Washington in 2022 — more than three times as many as in 2019, The Seattle Times reported. All but one were tied to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, according to U.S. Department of Health data.
Drug overdose deaths in the US rose slightly in 2022, after two big jumps during the COVID-19 pandemic, and preliminary data for the first nine months of 2023 suggests they rose again last year.