Did a Celebrated Researcher Obscure a Baby's Poisoning?

"But she found that the pills made her drowsy, so, on the third day of Tariq's life, she cut her intake to one pill at a time. She and Tariq were discharged from the hospital and went home. Rani, who was thirty-two, had been preparing for motherhood for a long time. "Anytime I read an article about something you shouldn't do, or they're not sure-that went on my list of things not to do," she said."

"The doctor noted that he was somnolent, but was generally unconcerned. Until that morning, Tariq had been feeding "on average, every three hours," according to his parents, and the pediatrician noted that he had been producing about five wet diapers per day. Another doctor later reported that Tariq had "appeared to be thriving." That night, Douglas called the Ontario health ministry's telehealth service. He said that Tariq had been sleeping for most of the past twenty hours, and that his skin was fluctuating in color."

Rani Jamieson gave birth to a healthy son, Tariq, and received Tylenol No. 3 containing codeine postpartum. She reduced her intake after feeling drowsy. In the days that followed, Tariq initially thrived but became somnolent, fed less, and developed color changes before collapsing. Health services evaluated him and an ambulance was sent. The infant's death was attributed to opioid poisoning, and the case catalyzed the creation of a pediatric subspecialty focusing on perinatal substance exposure. Subsequent scrutiny revealed conflicting clinical observations, incomplete toxicology, plausible alternative causes, and weak causal links, raising concerns about the evidence base for resulting policies.

Read at The New Yorker