Pubdate: Thu, 19 May 2005
Source: Journal Times, The (Racine, WI)
Copyright: 2005 The Journal Times
Contact:  http://www.journaltimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1659
Author: David Steinkraus
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

NO DECISION REACHED ON PREGNANT ADDICT

RACINE - Rachael Lowe, a pregnant 20-year-old with a drug addiction, will 
remain detained in the hospital for at least another day while the state 
checks the circumstances of her release.

The delay, ordered during a hearing on Wednesday, was the result of Lowe's 
own concern about transportation, combined with a judge's insistence on 
continuous supervision.

Lowe, from western Racine County, was detained in late April under the 
state's "cocaine mom law" after she walked into Waukesha Memorial Hospital 
to seek help for a drug abuse problem. At the time, the state said, her 
blood held traces of OxyContin; THC, the active ingredient in marijuana; 
and benzodiazepam, which is a depressant typically used to relieve anxiety.

Lowe has been accepted into a treatment program in Milwaukee, said her 
attorney, Keith Miller, during the hearing. The question was who would look 
after her.

While much attention has been on Lowe, the court's focus is expected to be 
the health of the fetus, said Racine County Judge Charles Constantine. 
That's what the cocaine mom law is all about, he said.

"What I want, if she's out, is for her to have 24-hour adult supervision," 
Constantine said.

"The problem is, I'm sorry, Mrs. Lowe, but based on your history of drug 
use I can't assume you will walk out of the hospital and not use."

After she was confined in St. Luke's Hospital for drug addiction treatment, 
Lowe snorted an OxyContin tablet, given as part of her treatment regimen, 
which produces a fast high. She is now on methadone, a drug used in the 
treatment of drug addiction.

Attorney Mark Lukoff, appointed by the court to represent the interests of 
the fetus, said he, too, wanted Lowe to have someone with her at all times.

That turned out to be the sticking point. An aunt and uncle said they were 
willing to take Lowe in, but Lowe said through her attorney that she would 
rather stay with the parents of her husband, Michael Lowe. She preferred 
her husband's parents, because of the commuting distance from the western 
end of the county where her aunt and uncle live.

Neither Lowe nor her husband presently hold valid driver's licenses, and 
she is wanted in Waukesha County on a charge of writing bad checks, state 
officials said.

An agreement reached by attorneys stipulated that the home she would stay 
in would be drug-free (with the exception of prescription medications, 
which would have to be locked up), but the state had not investigated 
Michael Lowe's parents. As a result, Rachael Lowe was not released from the 
hospital.

At a hearing last week, Constantine ordered a prenatal exam for Lowe. Other 
than daily fetal heart monitoring, Lowe had had no such care since being 
confined in St. Luke's, Lukoff told the court.

"The baby appears to be doing well," although the amount of amniotic fluid 
is on the low end of normal, Michelle McCabe, a child protective services 
investigator, told Constantine on Wednesday afternoon. Rachael Lowe's 
health appeared good, she said.

When the baby is delivered, it will go through drug withdrawal. For that 
reason, the state said, Lowe will have to give birth at a hospital with a 
neonatal intensive care unit where the child can be treated.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom