Neonate Death Due to Marijuana Toxicity to the Liver and Adrenals
Unusual clinical course, Challenging differential diagnosis, Unexpected drug reaction , Clinical situation which can not be reproduced for ethical reasons
Connie Bao, Shiping Bao
Champaign County Coroner’s Office, Urbana, IL, USA
Am J Case Rep 2019; 20:1874-1878
DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.919545
Available online:
Published: 2019-12-15
BACKGROUND:
Marijuana is the considered the most widely available and used drug across the world. Up to this time, there have been no reports of human death directly caused by acute marijuana toxicity in adults, fetuses, or newborn neonates.
CASE REPORT:
We report a death of an 11-day-old white female neonate due to acute marijuana toxicity. She died of extensive necrosis and hemorrhage of the liver and adrenals due to maternal use of marijuana.
CONCLUSIONS:
This case is unique in that other possible causes of death can be eliminated. With growing use of marijuana by pregnant women and increases in newborn drug screening of umbilical cord homogenate, more cases of neonatal death due to acute marijuana toxicity could be discovered.
Keywords: Autopsy, Infant, Newborn, Marijuana Abuse, Pregnancy Complications, Death
