Two children in Tennessee were recently hospitalized because their families could not find the specific formula they need during a nationwide shortage that has grown more acute over the past month, sending parents frantically searching for interim solutions.
Both children have short bowel syndrome, which prevents them from absorbing nutrients properly because part of their small intestine is missing, according to Dr. Mark Corkins, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, where the children were treated. Their condition requires special dietary interventions.
One of the children, who is preschool age, was hospitalized at the end of April and is still in the hospital. The other, a toddler, was hospitalized last week and has since gone home.