Charleston, W. Va. — His body dependent on opioids, he writhes, trembles and cries. He is exhausted but cannot sleep. He vomits, barely eats and has lost weight.
He is also a baby. Just 1 month old, he wails in the nursery of the CAMC Women and Children’s Hospital here. A volunteer “cuddler” holds him while walking around, murmuring sweetly, hour after hour, but he is inconsolable. What his body craves is heroin.
Every 15 minutes in America, a child is born after a prenatal exposure to opioids. Here in West Virginia, 14% of babies are born exposed to drugs, and perhaps 5% more to alcohol, totaling nearly 1 out of 5 newborns.