Two twin infants found to have cocaine in their bloodstream when delivered also had birth defects and trouble breathing, a report found.
Medics at the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin had the baby boys’ blood tested for drugs after their father turned up with obvious signs of being high.
Doctors later discovered the tots both had hypospadias, a birth defect in boys where the opening of the urethra – the tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside of the body – is not located at the tip of the penis.
Details of the horrific case feature in a new paper entitled “Hypospadias and Cocaine Use in Pregnancy” published in the Irish Medical Journal, which outlines the dangers of drug use and the potential for birth anomalies in new babies.
The paper tells how, upon delivery, both children had hypospadias and signs of respiratory distress, requiring non-invasive respiratory support and admission to the neonatal unit.
The medics at the Dept of Neonatology at the Rotunda said that while in the delivery suite, “the father presented as high alert, energetic and was talkative with a short attention span raising the suspicion that he was under the influence of an illicit substance”. Urine samples from the babies were requested and the medics report that “both tested positive for cocaine metabolites”.
The two children were referred to Paediatric Urology for planned surgery sometime after their first birthday.
A review of the boys’ development at six weeks and three months at the hospital’s Neonatal Outpatient department found they were thriving and discharged to the care of their GP.
