Toddler Dies After Medicine Overdose

A 13-month-old boy died and his twin brother was in critical condition Wednesday after they apparently swallowed an overdose of over-the-counter cold medication in their baby-sitter’s North Hollywood condominium, Los Angeles police said.

Child-abuse detectives were investigating the circumstances of the overdose and had not ruled out the possibility of foul play. The boys had spent the night at the baby-sitter’s residence in the 5100 block of West Park Drive before they took the medication shortly after 10 a.m., said Detective Wayne Wealer of the department’s abused-child unit.

Wealer said he did not know what type of cold remedy the boys took, or whether it was in tablet or liquid form.

The boys’ father, described only as a San Fernando Valley man, and his brother were in the condominium when the boys swallowed the drug, Wealer said. The brother called paramedics after noticing that the boys appeared ill, he said.

When paramedics arrived, they found one of the boys in full cardiac arrest, and he was pronounced dead at 10:55 a.m. at Medical Center of North Hollywood, hospital spokeswoman Sherry Reese said. The other boy was taken to the same hospital, but he was later transferred to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, where he was in critical but stable condition Wednesday evening, according to a hospital spokesman.