Questions About Death of 3-Year Old From Methadone

[bob1]

I have several questions concerning the death of a three-year old child who ingested methadone and subsequently died of an overdose (official cause of death was cardiac arrest). The child weighed between 45 and 50 lbs at the time of death.

A sample of blood was taken from the heart and came back with the following positive results:

Methadone, 0.27 mg/L (+/- 21%)
2-ethylidene- 1,5- dimethyl -3, 3 – diphenylpyrrolidine (EDDP) – metabolite of methadone, 0.079 mg/L (+/- 21%)

From these results can you ascertain how many mg’s of methadone the child ingested?

How many mg’s of methadone would it require to kill a child of this size?

How long after ingesting the methadone would death typically occur with results like these?

Also, with a rectal temperature of 90.5 degrees, how long would a child of this size have been deceased when this temperature was taken?

Thank you for any help in bringing some closure to a difficult situation.

[Dan]

Hi bob!

Welcome to the forum! I am very sad to hear your story, condolence and I will answer your question as best as I could. First of all I am a nurse and not a doctor, but I do my best to help.

Methadone is a narcotic drug used as pain relievers and for drug rehabilitation therapy to treat drug addiction. It can cause serious side effects especially to those who are not taking opioids, therefore no one should take it unless directed by a physician. Methadone could have caused the death of a three-year old child due to two reasons; his low weight and being naive to opioids (I assume it never taken opioids in his life).

I cannot say how much methadone the child ingested, and what is the toxic dose for his size. For those questions I suggest you have a discussion with a doctor.

I know that you're in difficult situation right now, and I understand what you're feeling. For more reading about methadone, here are some links:
http://www.drugs.com/search.php?searchterm=methadone
http://www.drugs.com/enc/methadone-overdose.html