Overcoming Addiction by Gregory E. Pence

Author:Gregory E. Pence
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2019-12-26T16:00:00+00:00

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome

Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS) is a tragic condition well known to neonatologists resulting from exposure of fetuses during gestation to drugs. Before the recent epidemic of opiates and heroin, neonatologists knew the dangers of women smoking and drinking while pregnant. Fetal alcohol syndrome resulted, and, for smoking mothers, the infant suffered withdrawal from nicotine. Today, they worry about fetuses being dependent on heroin, oxycodone, methadone, benzodiazepines, and buprenorphine.

A large ethical question looms about how to best manage the baby’s withdrawal from such drugs. Such babies produce distinctive cries and during withdrawal may suffer seizures, tremors, extreme irritability, apnea, and convulsions. Some doctors would wean the infants from the drugs, while others urge abstinence and cold-turkey quitting. If the learning approach is correct, the infant should not suffer in the same way from withdrawal as adults because the infant has not learned to use drugs in any way to cope with life’s problems. However, the infant does seem to suffer physical withdrawal. This is a special example of the issue known in philosophy as the “problem of other minds.” In this case, we can’t get inside the mind of the baby.

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