Aiding Pregnant Drug Abusers

Judy Howard’s superb article “Drugs and the Lives of Children” (Opinion, Nov. 12) graphically outlined the clinical problem of prenatal drug exposure by drug abusing mothers. The public should be aware that one of the principal reasons for the high perinatal mortality rate at Martin Luther King Hospital is intrauterine and perinatal drug exposure and withdrawal with their consequent low birth weight, prematurity, developmental abnormalities and acute drug withdrawal syndromes.

The long-term social and economic impact of the children who survive all this cannot even be estimated. At King Hospital, there are over 200 such documented deliveries a year; the actual number may be three times as large.

Dr. Milton Lee, chief of obstetrics and gynecology, has developed a program, Project Momma, which would dedicate three or four beds at King Hospital for certain services for pregnant substance-abusing mothers. These services would include detoxification, medical and social stabilization and treatment and preparation of viable treatment plans for continued outpatient, medical and psychological care, including repeat hospitalizations if necessary.

No funding exists for this program at present. Medi-Cal does not consider this to be a physical disease and evidentially would rather pay the enormous cost engendered by untreated and unmodified abuse than pay for prevention. Nor has the County Office of Alcohol Programs (70% of these women are also alcohol dependent) been willing to provide funds.

Constructive steps need to be taken to improve the quality of medical care at King Hospital. Project Momma is such a constructive step. It deserves our support.

DAVID CHERNOF, M.D.

President-Elect

Los Angeles County Medical Assn.