Two teenage girls overdosed on Benadryl and died Tuesday at a Tennessee residential treatment center for juveniles, authorities said.
The 15-year-olds were found unconscious and unresponsive at the Oak Plains Academy in Ashland City at around 9:20 a.m. local time.
One was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital while the other succumbed hours later, on Wednesday, at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.
An investigation into the deaths showed that the girls sneaked into a nurse’s station at the facility through the bottom part of the door.
They then took an “undetermined amount” of the over-the-counter medication and the following morning, they lost consciousness in the classroom.
“Liquid medicine in particular, not only are they easy for kids to drink but they get absorbed very quickly,” Dr. Shelia McMorrow said.
“Depending on how much was absorbed in the body and how much was taken, sometimes it is irreversible.”
