It's Murder, Watson.
Posted on 03/12/2009 2:15:15 PM PDT by BraveMan
A 26-year-old West Allis woman has been charged in the death of her 3-month-old daughter, who, investigators say, died of acute methadone intoxication after being given formula that was laced with the drug.
A criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court charges Andrea P. Zalewski with one count of child neglect resulting in death. If convicted, she faces fines of up to $100,000 and up to 25 years in prison.
According to the complaint, West Allis firefighters responded to a 911 call in the 1400 block of S. 81st St. on Oct. 29 of last year. They found the baby, Lola Lieb, without a pulse and not breathing.
Her mother, Zalewski, told investigators that the baby was on a sleep apnea monitor that went off before she found her baby was not breathing. Investigators, however, later learned from a download of the monitor's memory that it had last been used on Oct. 22 for six seconds, was turned off and not used after that, according to the complaint.
Police following up with the baby's pediatrician in January learned that the mother had been on methadone during her pregnancy and the child was born with a methadone addiction.
The baby went into detoxification after being born and was medicated with morphine and phenobarbital a month later, common for babies with a methadone addiction, according to the complaint. After her release from the hospital, she lived with her mother.
The doctor told investigators that he recommended to Zalewski that she not breastfeed to avoid transferring any drugs that might be in her system to the baby.
He further reported that he provided the mother with instructions on how to care for the baby while sleeping, including continued use of the sleep monitor. He told police if the sleep apnea monitor was on, it probably would have alerted her before the child stopped breathing.
An autopsy showed that the child died of acute methadone intoxication and that the bottle she had used before falling asleep on Oct. 29 was tested and had traces of methadone, according to the complaint.
Investigators also found a syringe in the area of the baby bottle with methadone in the syringe.
Milwaukee County Medical Examiner Christopher Happy told police in January that the amount of methadone in Lola's system was so high that it could not have come from breastfeeding. He told investigators that the baby formula had been mixed with methadone.
Zalewski told police in January that she is the only one who made formula for her daughter and "stated if Lola Lieb was given methadone she must have done it but she doesn't remember doing that."
She told police that on Oct. 28 she was on liquid methadone and kept it on top of the refrigerator close to the baby bottles.
Sickening.
Sad. RIP.
It's Murder, Watson.
how does a baby get sent home with a methadone addicted mother in the first place?
this is why I advocate the promotion of adoption...
gee, just think, 6 months earlier it would have been legal.
methadone addiction is not that much better than heroin addiction. the addicts still act like addicts
Lets legalize drugs!/s
“What happened to the old days when junkies went in every day and got their fix of tang and methadone? “
They still have to do that.
She was probably prescribed methadone for pain. After the hysteria in the news about Oxycontin, many doctors began to use methadone to avoid controversy and/or harassment by the DEA.
It’s probably a more dangerous drug than oxycodone if someone tries to get high from it.
Not the promotion of capitalization though.
Pity.
Meth causes pyschosis.
nitwit!
The teen-aged donor of my kidney is the perfect example of that. She was in a group home for adolescents with substance abuse problems. According to news reports, her and another girl were taken to a dentist appointment, stole a bottle of methadone from the staff member accompanying them (it was prescribed for pain), and started taking it when they got back. Most likely, they weren't getting enough of a buzz, kept taking it, and were found when they were close to respiratory arrest. They were resuscitated, but my donor was declared brain dead after 2 weeks on life support, and they harvested her organs the next day. The other girl survived, but had significant neurologic deficits.
Methamphetamine (speed) causes psychosis; Methadone (narcotic) usually doesn't.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.