Pain patch kills 6-year old child - Foster Mother accused
May 22, 2008
New York, New York (WiredPRNews.com) — CNN reported that a Harlem mother has been accused in the death of her six-year-old foster daughter after giving the child a contentious painkiller in order to treat the girl’s headache as well as neck pain.
Over the weekend, Taylor Webster informed her foster mother Joanne Alvarez, 54, that she had pain in her neck and head. Alvarez gave the girl Motrin and applied a patch of Fentanyl Transdermal on the 6-year old’s neck — a patch which is usually prescribed for adults. The medicine was actually for Joanne, who had been prescribed the patch in order to assist her to cope with an injury she got during an accident in 2000.
A physician at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan informed authorities that the patch, if placed on a child, could lead to severe complications and potentially even death. The day after the incident, police said Joanne Alvarez left for work, leaving Webster under the care of her 24-year old daughter. That afternoon, Taylor Webster was taken to Mount Sinai Medical Center when the Alvarez’s daughter recognized that the child was out cold.
In the evening, doctors pronounced Taylor Webster dead. The actual cause of death was not clear, but Joanne was charged for second-degree slaughter, criminally neglectful homicide and jeopardizing the wellbeing of a child.
