Little girl ends up in the ICU due to ‘bad batch’ of prescribed medication, mom says

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE/Gray News) - A Kentucky mother is facing a terrifying situation after her daughter had an adverse reaction to her prescribed medication and ended up in the intensive care unit. Two other children also had adverse reactions to the medication, sparking a public health warning from county officials.

Tabitha Drew says she picked up her daughter’s prescribed medication, a Clonidine oral suspension, on Friday from Med Save, her pharmacy in Eminence, Kentucky. The next day, the pharmacy called Drew and asked how her daughter, Rayven, was responding to the medication, WAVE reports.

Drew said she hadn’t yet given her daughter the medication. The pharmacy then said they had a bad batch of the medicine and if Rayven had a reaction, to let them know.

Drew gave Rayven the medication Sunday, and almost immediately, she started having an adverse reaction.

“Within 10 minutes of giving her this medicine, she said, ‘Mommy, I’m very tired.’ She started rubbing her eyes. She dropped her phone and was completely just dead weight,” Drew said.

The mother ended up calling an ambulance. She says when crews arrived, they had already responded to two other cases and knew what to do for Rayven. They immediately administered Narcan, which is typically used to reverse an opioid overdose.

“We went through two bags, I believe, of 5-milliliter Narcan drips and, I think, 20 Narcan sprays,” Drew said. “When we got closer to Crestwood, we pulled off the interstate to meet the Oldham County EMS because we ran out of Narcan. They were giving us some to keep her with it.”

Rayven is now in the ICU at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville.

“My baby could go at any minute right now because of how bad she’s trying to breathe,” Drew said.

The mother says doctors have been pumping her daughter with fluids and more Narcan. Rayven continues to come in and out of consciousness.

“Within 30 seconds, she’s back out. She’s not been my baby at all,” Drew said.

Now, it’s a waiting game for this terrified mother.

“She’s not talking to me. She’s not out of the danger zone yet. I don’t know what’s going to happen. They’re playing it by ear. I’m just scared to death because they’ve had the chaplain up there twice, and it’s scaring me when they do that,” Drew said.

Rayven is one of three children in Henry County who had adverse reactions to Clonidine oral suspension prescriptions filled at the Med Save in Eminence, according to Henry County EMS. They issued a public health warning to families Sunday, saying the medication shipment was a “bad batch.”

It’s believed the problem was isolated, as of Monday, according to Lt. Col. TJ Bothur with Henry County EMS.

Drew is questioning why more wasn’t done.

“If you’ve gotten reports that the medicine is bad and they’ve asked you not to give it, don’t give it,” she said.

The Kentucky Board of Pharmacy says they’re aware of what happened and are investigating the Med Save location. They advise patients to contact their pharmacist for any medication-related questions.

They also say Clonindine is a special medication because it must be compounded.

“The dosage form the children were given is not available on the marketplace, so it requires compounding. It takes certain pharmacies that compound medication and make it available for children,” said Christopher Harlow, the executive director of the Board of Pharmacy.

Clonidine is used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, aggression, migraines, high blood pressure, sleep problems and other conditions, according to Children’s Minnesota.

Symptoms that may indicate a problem include unconsciousness or unresponsiveness, unexplained crying fits, slow heart rate or breathing rate and pinpoint pupils, Henry County EMS says.

Med Save declined to comment on this story.

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