Mont Alto, Pa. - A local coroner concerned about the upcoming cold and flu season says too many children are dying from taking over-the-counter medications.

Franklin County Coroner Jeff Conner says in the last theee years, he has responded to three deaths of children under the age of two from complications with cold medications. Most recently, he investigated the death of 17-month-old Logan Mickley of Mont Alto.

"He just had sniffles and a little bit of a fever for a day or two. It was nothing out of the ordinary,” said Jason Mickley, Logan’s father.

Mickley says he never imagined that when he put Logan down to sleep with a cold on January 24 that it would be the last time he'd see him.

“A lot of that morning's a blur. I just remember finding him, but I never thought it would have been the medicine,” he said.

Conner says Logan died as result of chlorpheniramine, one of the active ingredients in Tylenol Cold Plus. The medication label says it should not be given to kids under the age of four.

But Mickley, like many parents, did what he'd done dozens of times before with Logan and his four other kids when they were sick. “You look at the box. It says this much for a 4-year-old. He's two, so we'll cut it in half,” he said.

Conner warns the old days of giving young children partial doses of adult or even child medications are gone. “Anything after the straight pain medications contains the ingredients that are causing the issue,” he said.

Conner says usually the problems stem from the decongenstant. He says for whatever reason, Logan's body metabolized all of the ingredients in the Tylenol Plus Cold except for the chlorphenaramine. After several doses over a couple of days, the chemical built up to a toxic level and eventually caused Logan to stop breathing.

Mickley is hoping more parents will hear his son's story - and listen. “I’d go to the doctor every time now. I mean, medicines change all the time, they're always changing ingredients; this is new, that is new. Ten years ago that never existed,” he said. “It's just a shame and I don't want to see any other family go through it.”

Additional information about children's cold medicines can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/features/pediatricColdMeds/.

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