MILL CREEK, Wash. — The "suspicious" death of a 1-year-old girl is under investigation in Snohomish County.
The Snohomish County Sheriff's Office Special Investigations Unit (SCSO SIU) announced Wednesday that deputies responded on May 7 to Swedish Hospital in Mill Creek for a report of an unresponsive child, who was brought in by her mother.
The child was later transported to Seattle Children's, where she was pronounced dead.
The SCSO said detectives discovered the child was in the care of her 37-year-old mother between May 6-7 at an Everett hotel.
Toxicology reports are still pending, but detectives said there is reason to believe the child's death could be due to fentanyl exposure from the hotel room prior to being unresponsive. A search warrant was served on the hotel room by detectives. The mother was arrested on an unrelated domestic violence charge out of Edmonds the same day and was booked into the Snohomish County Jail.
While Dr. Chris Buresh, a Seattle Children's doctor, can't comment on specific cases, he says the data speaks for itself about the dangers fentanyl poses to children.
"We've seen a huge increase across the country, looking at poison control data, in exposures for kids on average about a year-and-a-half to two years of age," Dr. Buresh said. "On a dose per size basis, on a milligram per kilogram basis, it's a tremendous dose for someone that size and it can be difficult to reverse them."
While there's a lot interest in understanding how fentanyl impacts younger children, Dr. Buresh says adolescents and teens are also on the forefront of the fentanyl epidemic. Many of them, Dr. Buresh says, will take a pill or snort a powder thinking it's a Xanax but in reality, it's fentanyl.
With fentanyl flowing throughout communities, Dr. Buresh says everyone should be prepared to save someone from an overdose
"Naloxone, the opioid reversal medication is going to be over the counter this summer," he said. "If you have a kid, if you have an adolescent, anybody who might be exposed to fentanyl, you should have some naloxone. Everybody should carry it. I've got three doses I carry with me everywhere. My high school kids have two doses they carry with them at school."
You can get naloxone for free in Washington. You can also check with your insurance provider to see if it's covered under your plan.