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MANCHESTER, Ky. (AP) — Manchester Memorial Hospital has started a program to reduce the number of newborn babies suffering from drug withdrawal.
WKYT-TV (http://bit.ly/1VgIRR1 ) reports that the hospital is giving pregnant mothers a drug called Subutex to treat their drug addictions before babies are born.
Nurse Kristina Burchfield says that the hospital has seen fewer cases of withdrawal symptoms from babies since the hospital started the Subutex program last year. She explains that before the program started, as many as 25 percent of babies being born at the hospital were being transferred to Kentucky Children's Hospital because they were suffering from drug dependency. That number has since fallen to 8 percent.
Burchfield says mothers are more likely to prevent their babies from ending up in the neonatal intensive care unit if they follow the program.
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