DRUG OVERDOSE KILLED BABY, D.C. POLICE SAY

A 10-month-old girl died last month after she was given an overdose of
her mother's methadone, law enforcement and city officials said yesterday.

Symphony Jenkins was found unconscious in an apartment in the 1600
block of Sixth Street NW on the morning of Feb. 1 and was pronounced
dead soon after arriving at Children's Hospital.

D.C. police announced yesterday that Symphony had a high level of
methadone in her blood and that her death had been ruled a homicide by
the city's chief medical examiner. Methadone is a synthetic narcotic
used to ease withdrawal from heroin.

No one has been arrested in the case, officials said.

A spokeswoman for D.C. Child and Family Services said the agency
opened a case on Symphony in April, shortly after her birth, when
doctors determined the child had been born dependent on methadone.
Spokeswoman Mindy L. Good said that Symphony's mother, whom
authorities did not identify, had taken methadone during pregnancy.

The child welfare agency monitored the baby until August, Good said,
when the case was closed. She said social workers had determined that
other city agencies were helping Symphony's mother and that both the
baby and her 2-year-old brother appeared to be well cared for.

"The services for [the mother] were already in place, the children
were fine and there was nothing more for us to do to protect these
children from abuse and neglect," Good said.

Doctors are usually able to wean a baby born with a methadone
dependency within several days, said Daniel Lieberman, clinical
director of George Washington University Medical Center's Department
of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He said there would be no
reason for a child to be given the drug as late as 10 months after
birth.

"It's inconceivable that there would be any medical justification for
giving it more than just a very few days," Lieberman said.

Methadone is usually taken orally and prevents heroin addicts from
suffering withdrawal but does not produce a heroin high. Addicts who
receive methadone treatment often have a high tolerance for narcotics
and sometimes must take large doses that could be fatal to an ordinary
adult who has not developed tolerance, Lieberman said.