Who is Thomas?

TheWatch
Homeland Security
Published in
4 min readJun 10, 2016

The young doctor came out to give the report to family members: “Thomas (not real name) has tested positive for heroin and cocaine. A wide range of secondary drugs are also in his system, including oxycodone, percocets, vicodin, and methadone. The doctor continues to report “Thomas must remain in the hospital so we can test his blood for HIV, herpes, hepatitis, and the full range of sexually transmitted diseases.”

Take a moment to develop in your mind who is Thomas…what do you picture him to look like? How did he end up in this predicament? What might his background be? Maybe a couple of wrong choices brought him down a path where he lost control of his decisions and could no longer say no to the highs that certain drugs gave him. You probably know family or friends who also struggle with addiction to drugs similar to those listed.

After you have considered where this description takes you, I’d like to tell you Thomas is a newborn. In his mother’s womb, he was exposed to the full range of drugs as well as alcohol and tobacco for all of the nine months of his development. After birth, he immediately began suffering seizures and was placed on a morphine drip to wean him off the drugs. He remained on this drip and in the ICU for two weeks. With the positive drug test, the hospital was mandated to report and the state’s social services opened a case and investigation for Thomas. Guardianship was granted to his maternal grandmother.

Thomas left the hospital in the care of his grandmother; however, his mother lived with his grandmother and Thomas was neglected for the first year of his life. His grandmother went to work each day and left the precious boy with his mother who continued to use drugs and alcohol, while locking Thomas in the bathroom and leaving him in a swing for the day.

Thomas hardly ate, received little to no attention, and suffered in unspeakable ways. Social Services did not conduct their checkups for Thomas and failed to follow up on his case. A few days after his first birthday, Thomas’ mother found him dead. The state report said that Thomas was malnourished and dehydrated, and he died after ingesting Fentanyl, a narcotic more powerful than morphine.

Unfortunately, stories like Thomas’ are repeated over and over again, all across the country. Like the case of Thomas, many of these stories have devastating endings.

An NBC investigation reported that an “alarming number of drug-dependent babies die every year in preventable deaths after they leave the hospital and go home.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has proclaimed opiate addiction a national epidemic . In 2013, there were 27,000 drug dependent babies born in the United States. This is five times what was reported in 2003 . The Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 requires states to report when babies are born addicted to drugs. Some states passed laws to meet the federal requirements; however, many did not. In other states, the social services are not properly staffed or do not have sufficient follow through in order to keep these babies safe.

In Homeland Security, we talk about keeping our borders safe and preventing acts of terrorism on the homeland. But what happens when the most vulnerable population is suffering at the hands of the one who is supposed to love and protect them? The rise of drug use, overdoses, and preventable infant deaths in the United States is threatening our Nation in alarming ways. What can we do for these innocent babies? Surely more can be done but where do we start?

Please share or follow some of our other stories:

Please share or follow some of our other stories:

Neville Chamberlain’s UK, is it Deja Vous for the U.S.?

Dumb Ways to Die: Lightning Strike

The TSA Passenger Factory: It’s All About You

Drug Submarines?

Not So Dumb Ways to Die: Medical Mistakes

--

--