Kid Cold Medicines Removed From Shelves
Today, several drug makers pulled over-the-counter medications aimed at children under the age of two due to rare instances of parents accidentally overdosing young children. Parents should not use any medicines they have at home.
Those medicines include: Johnson & Johnson’s Pediacare Infant Drops and Tylenol Concentrated Infants Drops, Wyeth’s Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops, Novartis’ Triaminic Infant & Toddler Thin Strips and Prestige Brands Holdings’ Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough.
In late September, the FDA tentatively recommended adding the words “do not use in children under two years” to products’ labeling. Current labeling directs parents to consult a doctor before administering the drugs to infants and toddlers. The FDA found 54 child fatalities from over-the-counter decongestant medicines in the last decade and 69 reports of children’s deaths connected with antihistamines.
I’ve always been concerned about the potential for overdose for infants. In Philadelphia last year, many people were upset with this verdict:
A jury yesterday awarded a Philadelphia family $5 million in the death of their 1-year-old boy, who died after his parents gave him Infants’ Tylenol.
Marquis Dunson died in March 2002, just 12 days after his first birthday. The official cause of death, according to the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s Office, was acetaminophen toxicity.
His parents, Lisa and Martin Dunson, said they did not realize Infants’ Tylenol was concentrated - three times the strength of regular Children’s Tylenol.
“The important thing is that parents know there are potential problems with Infants’ Tylenol, and they have to be super careful,” said A. Roy DeCaro, the attorney who represented the Dunsons.
Marquis fell sick with a cold on March 16, 2002. His parents gave him Infants’ Tylenol. The box states that parents should call their doctor before giving the medication to any child younger than 2, but their doctor had recommended Infants’ Tylenol before.
They gave him two droppers every four hours. Marquis got sicker and sicker, but it did not occur to them that it was the Tylenol that was causing the problem, DeCaro said. DeCaro said the child should have been getting half a dropper as needed.
But I disagreed. You know that I am not a fan of most personal injury lawyers. But this time, I think they got it right. I wrote:
I usually disagree with these suits, but on this I’ll agree (sorry). I have a 2 yr old, a 4 yr old and an infant. I’m smart and I’m a label reader. I’ve given my children Infant Tylenol and Children’s Tylenol. It would be wildly easy to confuse the dosage on the two and the packages are EXACTLY the same in terms of color, etc. It would have been a simple thing to have different packaging to differentiate, without losing the branding (they do it for Tylenol v Extra Strength Tylenol).
and:
I believe in being an informed consumer but I still feel for the parents in this case. I had no idea that Infant’s Tylenol was so much more concentrated than Children’s Tylenol (you’d think it was the other way round, no?). We had a big discussion about this at my office and I actually pulled out the bottle. The word “concentrated” is in smaller print than the words “Dye-Free” or “Cherry”.
The dosage for kids over 24 pounds or 2-3 years old is, in fact, two droppers full every four hours (which is what the parents did). It does say to call a doctor if the child is under 2 but also says, “If possible, use weight to dose; otherwise use age.” My 25 month old is only 7 pounds heavier than my 2 month old. By weight, they would both warrant a call to the doctor. By age, not. Why even list the age on the bottle for dosage? It just adds to the confusion.
I consider myself a good mom, and I do not call my child’s doctor every time that I give him or her Tylenol. I’ll bet that most parents don’t and I’ll bet that doctors wish that you didn’t. It’s also important to remember that the parents had given the child Tylenol before, both for the child that died and for their other children. I’m sure that they called or discussed this with their doctor at some point.
I just don’t understand why Tylenol wouldn’t take steps to make these products more safe. For crying out loud, they’re actually labeled as “infant” - who considers their two year old an infant? They’re clearly marketed to parents with infants and then pretend that they’re not intended for same. Infuriating.
October 11th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
When my son was about 3, he was sick with a nasty cold and we were up all night. It wasn’t until the morning that I realized I’d been giving him a full dosage spoon full instead of just about 1/3 of the little spoon of the children’s Tylenol Cold. Fortunately I only did it twice during the night, but I was so panicked! Now I see I had reason to be. Scary stuff!!