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Foster mom charged in child's death from pain patch

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA | rocco.parascandola@newsday.com | Newsday Staff Writer

May 20, 2008

A Harlem woman has been charged in the death of her 6-year-old foster daughter because she used a controversial painkiller to try to cure the girl's headache and neck pains, police said Monday.

On Saturday night, Taylor Webster told her foster mother, Joanne Alvarez, 54, that her head and neck hurt. Alvarez gave the child Motrin and placed on Taylor's neck a Fentanyl Transdermal patch, which is for adults. The prescription was for Alvarez, who had been given the patch to help her cope with an injury she suffered in a 2000 accident.

A doctor at Mount Sinai Medical Center, in Manhattan, told authorities that using the patch on a child could lead to severe complications or death, a law enforcement source said.

On Sunday, police said, Alvarez went to work, leaving Taylor in the care of her 24-year-old daughter. At about 3 p.m., Taylor was rushed to Mount Sinai Medical Center when the daughter realized the child was unconscious. Taylor was pronounced dead at 5:10 p.m., police said. The cause of death was pending yesterday, but Alvarez was charged with second-degree manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and endangering the welfare of a child.

The FDA last December issued a warning, its second, about misuse of such skin-patch painkillers. The FDA said the patch, which releases medication through the skin, should be used only by those to whom it has been prescribed, and doctors advise against anyone younger than 16 using the patch.

Used incorrectly, it could lead to trouble with breathing, a slowed heartbeat, dizziness or death.