As opioid crisis deepens, so does work with pregnant people in throes of addiction [Video]

Dr. Laura Lyons has seen the city’s opioid crisis change and deepen from a vantage point that’s different than most: the delivery room. 

When she first started working with pregnant women facing mental health crisis and addiction two decades ago, about 20 babies a year were delivered suffering from drug withdrawal symptoms. This year, that number is about 50. 

“We’re seeing much higher incidents of overdose and toxicity than we did back in 2005. The severity of the substances that are being used, the lethality of those substances and the volume of those substances have changed dramatically,” Lyons said in an office where she works as a family doctor. 

“We’ve also seen the complexity of the social issues grow. Infectious disease, homelessness, food scarcity — we’re at a major crisis point.” 

Lyons is an addiction medicine specialist who works in perinatal addictions, focusing on people who are pregnant and parenting …