An appellate court has upheld a ruling that an opiate-addicted mother neglected her infant son when after giving birth she failed to disclose she was taking a medication used to treat opioid addiction.
TRENTON -- An appellate court has upheld a ruling that an opiate-addicted mother neglected her infant son when after giving birth she failed to disclose she was taking a medication used to treat opioid addiction.
The case -- which was on appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey Chancery Division Family Part, Middlesex County -- was initially filed in July 2013 by the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
It involved a mother, identified in court documents only as K.M., who in April 2013 gave birth to a boy at St. Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick.
A few days after giving birth, the child began to exhibit symptoms of opiate withdrawal and the mother admitted that she was "addicted to oxycodone ... prior to her pregnancy" and had illegally obtained and used Suboxone -- a medication prescribed to treat opioid withdrawal -- "two to three times per week and smoked marijuana during her pregnancy."
The appellate court, in which Superior Court Judges Jose Fuentes, Ellen Koblitz and Robert Gilson heard the arguments, ruled that the mother was negligent because she was "obligated to disclose the known, necessary information to avoid endangering the health of her newborn child," according to the Feb. 25 ruling.
According to the ruling, the mother neglected her infant son "when she failed to disclose in a timely manner her use of Suboxone to the neonatal staff after G.G. was born."
Disclosing the information, the ruling said, could have "prevented three days of needless suffering to her infant son."
However, the appellate court wrote that it took issue with one aspect of the trial court's analysis, explaining that it focused on the mother's "conduct during her pregnancy" but that there was "no evidence ... that this aspect of (the mother's) conduct harmed G.G. in any way."
In July 2013, the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency filed a complaint seeking custody of the infant, which was ultimately granted by a judge at the Middlesex County Superior Court family division. However, it is unclear from court documents who would take guardianship of the infant son going forward.
Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.