A Missouri mother has been charged with murder after her 14-year-old daughter died from a fentanyl overdose, following the mother’s decision to give her a pill for a toothache.
The tragic incident occurred on October 3, when Jacquelyn Powers, 35, gave her daughter a pill she believed to be oxycodone, left over from her own previous surgery.
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Powers reportedly found the pill in a drawer and gave it to her daughter, who later died 10 hours after taking it.
Powers told investigators she thought it was a painkiller similar to the oxycodone she had been prescribed.
However, an autopsy revealed the girl died from a fentanyl overdose, with no oxycodone found in her system.
“This is tragic. This shouldn’t happen. She’s 14, she had a lot of years to look forward to,” said Overland Police Department Captain Jim Morgan, emphasizing the heartbreak of such a preventable death.
Court documents show that Powers had traded some of her prescription oxycodone pills with her mother for street-bought pills she believed were safer.
She admitted to keeping these pills in a drawer, and police say she had no idea that the pill she gave her daughter was fentanyl, a powerful opioid much stronger than oxycodone.
Powers has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and felony death of a child. She is currently being held on a $150,000 bond, with a court hearing scheduled for November 19.
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This case adds to the growing number of fentanyl-related deaths in the U.S. In a similar incident in California, a mother was charged with murder after her twin toddlers died from exposure to fentanyl-laced drugs.
The tragic deaths of these young children highlight the dangers of opioids and the life-threatening consequences of unregulated prescription drugs, especially in households where the dangers of fentanyl are not fully understood.