BASED ON TRUE STORY FROM THE LANCET
A TRAGIC LOSS THAT COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED
A 13-day-old infant tragically passed away from morphine poisoning after the mother, unknowingly a CYP2D6 ultra-rapid metabolizer, took a common codeine-based painkiller. Her body converted codeine into dangerously high morphine levels, ~30X higher than normal, which were then passed to her baby through breast milk.
This heartbreaking case — reported in The Lancet — highlights the urgent need for pharmacogenomic testing. If the mother had known her genetic profile, she could have avoided codeine and chosen a safer pain relief option — potentially saving her baby’s life.

































