Pregnant mothers abusing of pain killers affects their baby

  The number of babies born addicted to the class of drugs that includes prescription painkillers has nearly tripled in the past decade, according to the first national study of its kind. About 3.4 of every 1,000 infants born in a hospital in 2009 suffered from a type of drug because of mothers abusing pain medicine while pregnant. The number of newborns with withdrawal symptoms increased from a little more than 1 per 1,000 babies sent home from the hospital in 2000 to more than 3 per 1,000 in 2009. Researchers estimated that more than 13,000 U.S infants were affected in 2009. Infants from these drugs often require lengthy stay in intensive care units. Hospital charges for treating these newborns went from $190 million to $720 million between 2000 and 2009, the studies found.