SAN FRANCISCO : Child Critical After Ingesting Cocaine

A 14-month-old girl who suffered a heart attack and went into a coma after ingesting cocaine apparently found on the floor of an apartment was improved slightly but still in critical condition. The child opened her eyes briefly and showed “slight neurological improvements,” four days after her mother found her convulsing on the floor of the apartment in a housing project, hospital officials said. Doctors do not know whether the girl will suffer long-term brain damage, according to officials at San Francisco General Hospital. The child may have been crawling on the floor and putting things in her mouth when she came across the drug, police said. The girl’s 18-year-old mother was visiting in the apartment and had left her in the care of her grandmother while she went out, officers said. The grandmother has since vanished and is being sought.