The Fix Isn’t In: Why a Safety Device That Can Stop Overdoses by Kids Isn’t Widely Used
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By T. Christian Miller and Jeff Gerth, ProPublica
This story was produced in collaboration with Consumer Reports.
Starting in 2007, Dr. Daniel Budnitz, a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Medication Safety Program, began tracking an obscure but unsettling statistic about children’s health.
Each year, more and more kids were being rushed to emergency rooms after swallowing potentially toxic doses of medication. By 2011, federal estimates put the figure at about 74,000, eclipsing the number of kids under 6 sent to ERs from car crashes.