Police investigating toddler’s death from nicotine overdose

Police on Tuesday launched an investigation into possible negligence after doctors were unable to save the life of a young girl who died from drinking liquid nicotine on Tuesday.

Naomi Elbaz, just two and a half, collapsed at her parents home in the ultra-Orthodox Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem.

A Magen David Adom ambulance crew tried to resuscitate the girl who was found in a dazed state. After stabilizing her pulse, they evacuated her to the nearby Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus. However, the youngster’s condition rapidly deteriorated and she was transferred to the Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem for further treatment. Despite desperate efforts by doctors, she eventually died.

Initial reports said that Elbaz’s parents were not with her when she drank the liquid and she was being watched over by her grandparents. At some point the toddler, an only child, went to her grandfather’s room and drank from a small bottle of liquid nicotine that he used to refill his electronic cigarette. The bottle was sent to a police laboratory for tests to determine exactly what was in the liquid.