Gibson County Stories

Lisa

I am a pediatrician specializing in the care of drug-exposed newborns and children. When a baby has been in my care suffering from Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome due to opioid exposure during pregnancy, parents have asked me how to get them settled enough to eat or how to soothe the searing pain in their diaper area. Nurses have asked me to prescribe morphine to newborns to calm their agitation, tremors and constant hiccups from the withdrawal. When the same babies get home, the caregivers have asked me how their prenatal exposure, or the treatment for it, will affect them long-term.

In my previous role as a hospital administrator, opioid-related NAS forced me to keep otherwise healthy babies in the neonatal ICU, which added thousands of dollars in costs and occupied beds for an average of 20 days. I have been honored to care for these precious, innocent souls, but I would have much rather the newborns be well enough to go home shortly after birth to bond with their families.

Answering the tough questions and addressing the challenging issues reminds me how opioids impact my career as a pediatrician and now as the state health commissioner.