USA. MATER Center Director, on the Importance of Dr. Finnegan’s Work—Which Continues—and the Need to Treat Mothers for Trauma

Loretta Finnegan, MD, a champion of medication-assisted treatment with methadone, developed her scoring system for newborns more than 40 years ago. The Finnegan Neonatal Abstinence Scoring System (FNASS) assigns a numerical score to 21 clinical signs, and babies are treated accordingly. Developing the test was an important step in making sure that these babies were treated with morphine, if necessary, to manage the symptoms of withdrawal.

But the work of Dr. Finnegan goes far beyond the Finnegan score. When she first started an opioid treatment program (OTP) at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, 44 years ago, Dr. Finnegan opened a landmark program for pregnant women addicted to opioids. Since then, the program, called Maternal Addiction Treatment Education & Research (MATER), has included intensive outpatient treatment as well as residential treatment.

Diane Abatemarco, PhD, MSW, director of MATER and associate professor of OB/GYN and Pediatrics at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Jefferson, talked with AT Forum about the scope and importance of Dr. Finnegan’s work. (ATForum, USA, 17.12.2019)

http://atforum.com/2018/12/mater-center-director-finnegans-work/