9-Month-Old Baby Ingests High Amount Of Fentanyl, Parents Charged

The parents of a 9-month-old baby girl in Pennsylvania were charged Tuesday after she overdosed on the potentially deadly opioid fentanyl, authorities said.

Maria Dolderer, 24, and Michael Charles Picardi, 28, of Bensalem, faced felony child endangerment charges besides reckless endangerment. The couple failed to give police any proper explanation as to how the child could have overdosed, police said in a news release.

On Jan. 24, police were alerted about a child going into cardiac arrest at a home in Finch Drive. Officers and Bensalem emergency medical services treated the girl by giving her a Narcan, an antidote to fentanyl.

Medical tests were conducted on the child and her urine was tested positive for fentanyl, police said. She was placed on a ventilator and administered more Narcan to save her life. Further, the alarming amount of fentanyl present in her body called for a Narcan drip. She was listed stable on Tuesday at St. Christopher’s Hospital.

When officials reached the house, it was reportedly littered with prescription medication bottles, including the areas accessible to the child. Officers said they found an emptied bottle of acetaminophen with codeine in the baby’s swing. It was, however, not clear when and how the child ingested the fentanyl.

Bail for each parent was set at $500,000 and it was unclear as of Wednesday whether they had an attorney to speak on their behalf.