Baby given Narcan twice, suffers cardiac arrest after ingesting fentanyl, Sacramento sheriff says

A 9-month-old baby girl was hospitalized after a fentanyl poisoning stopped her heart and authorities delivered two doses of a naloxone emergency medication, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said.

Deputies responded to a unit in the Redwood Square Apartments just before 11 p.m. Wednesday on the 4400 block of Elkhorn Boulevard in North Highlands.

A 911 call originally reported a 1-year-old child that had fallen down and couldn’t breathe, according to police radio traffic.

Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District crews were dispatched to the scene and determined the baby had been exposed to a lethal dose of fentanyl, the Sheriff’s Office said. Paramedics administered Narcan to the infant and transported her to Mercy San Juan Medical Center.

Once hospitalized, she went into cardiac arrest and medical staff administered a second dose of Narcan.

She is expected to survive, the Sheriff’s Office said.

‘That kid did not ingest it by itself’

Sheriff Jim Cooper said Thursday that deputies executed a search warrant at the apartment to determine how the infant was exposed to the potent and often deadly opioid.

“We know it had to be there somewhere,” Cooper said. “That kid did not ingest it by itself. That’s the terrifying part. Nine-month-olds don’t go into cardiac arrest; you don’t hit them with Narcan twice.”

Cooper said child welfare services had also been called to the scene.

Whether charges would be filed against the parents was yet to be determined, Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi said.

Fentanyl has grown significantly among illicitly sold drugs in Sacramento County, the Sheriff’s Office said. Sheriff’s deputies have seized more than 3 million doses of fentanyl and responded to 901 fentanyl-related calls for service since January 2022.

Cooper said he blamed the sharp growth of fentanyl activity on Mexican cartels bringing the illicit substance into the U.S.

“It’s Mexican cartels that are doing this,” he said. “Most of those folks being caught are Mexican nationals. They are bailed out, and then they go back to Mexico.”

In 2022, a Sacramento crime lab narcotics test found that 61% of pills seized by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration contained lethal doses of fentanyl.

This story was originally published August 3, 2023 at 9:48 AM.