New York mom Magan Michelle McDermott was watching her 3-month-old son at her sister’s house last month when the infant nearly lost his life.
The child’s father had full custody but brought the baby to visit the mother, according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
But in the early morning hours of November 24, McDermott’s sister heard screaming coming from downstairs.
She found the child’s father giving the 3-month-old CPR after he stopped breathing. The dad was confronting McDermott about the baby’s condition.
Authorities arrived at the residence and determined the child had been given methadone, a medication prescribed to reduce withdrawal symptoms in those addicted to opioids, according to MedlinePlus.
It can be fatal when given to a person who is not prescribed, said police. And the infant had stopped breathing for at least 14 minutes.
Police Captain Brad Liles told KATU that authorities used an anti-overdose medication to save him:
“We learned that Albany Fire had provided a NARCAN or naloxone dose to the baby to bring it out of a potential overdose. It simply reverses the effect of the opiate-based product.”
The child was hospitalized and McDermott later admitted to her sister over text messages that she’d given the child methadone.
Her reason? She wanted him to go to sleep. The mom wrote:
Jamie tell them it’s methadone in his system [sic]. I’m too sorry just wanted to help him sleep for Franky…
God for give me.
McDermott was arrested five days later and charged with first-degree criminal mistreatment, causing another person to ingest a controlled substance, delivery of methadone, and third-degree assault.
According to KATU, the mom lost custody of her two older children in the past. One them died in foster care at age 15. Liles told the outlet:
“Children should not be exposed to this.”
McDermott has pleaded not guilty to the four felony charges. She is being held on $320,000 bail.
Her infant son is expected to be okay.