Can any MD's or OB/GYN's check this bogus sounding story?

[mistertrickster]

http://www.nbc12.com/Global/story.asp?s=11690000&clienttype=printable

Campbell County mother can't be charged in baby's death

Posted: Dec 16, 2009 7:07 PM CST
Updated: Dec 16, 2009 9:11 PM CST

The right-wing/anti-abortion discussion boards are exploding with this latest "outrage," a woman supposedly killed her baby after giving birth but cannot be charged because the umbilical cord is still attached.

Here's the main part of the story--

By Angela Hatcher - bio | email
Posted by Terry Alexander - email

CAMPBELL COUNTY, VA (WSLS) - Police in Campbell County, Virginia say the child was killed by its mother moments after she gave birth, but they can't charge the mother because of a loophole in a state law.

Around eleven Friday morning the Campbell County Sheriff's Office got a call that a woman in her early 20's was in labor. When deputies arrived at a home in the 12 hundred block of Lone Jack Road in Rustburg they discovered the baby had actually been born alive ten hours earlier, but was dead by the time they were called out there.

"I believe everyone was upset, except for the person who should have been upset, the mother" said Investigator Tracy Emerson.

Emerson says that's because the mother suffocated the child under bedding. He can't charge the mother, because of a loophole in state law.

"In the state of Virginia as long as the umbilical cord is attached and the placenta is still in the mother, if the baby comes out alive the mother can do whatever she wants to with that baby to kill it. And in the state of Virginia, it's no crime," said Emerson. "She could shoot the baby, stab the baby as long as it's still attached to her in some form by umbilical cord or something and it's no crime in the state of Virginia."

******

Question 1 -- Wouldn't the placenta and umbilical cord detach far sooner than the ten hours police say it took for them to discover the dead new born?

Question 2--Is it possible to "suffocate" a newborn if the umbilical cord is still attached? I thought that was the main purpose of the umbilical cord, to provide oxygen to the fetus while it's swimming in water.

Question 3--Isn't it also possible that the woman was suffering from blood loss etc. and accidently covered the child with blankets?

[enlightenment]

1. As to the law in Virginia - I don't know.

As for your questions:

1 - No.

2 - Before birth, the fetus doesn't 'breathe' and the blood circulating through it's body is oxygenated by the mother through the placenta and umbilical cord. Once the placenta separates from the uterus, it's function is served and the fetus either breathes on its own - or dies.

3 - anything's possible.

[mistertrickster]

3. You write, "once the placenta separates from the uterus . . . "

So you're saying that the placenta had detached but had not passed out of the mother.

After ten hours.

I guess that's possible . . . (on edit) but it seems like it would also invalidate the protection of the law since the mother is no longer "attached" in any real way with the umbilical cord.

[enlightenment]

6. I don't know if it did.

I don't know that she had tied off the umbilical cord. It just says the umbilical cord was still attached to the fetus.

It is possible to retain the placenta for awhile after birth, but it is usually expelled naturally.

I really don't know anything about this situation; I was just responding to your questions. On a wild hunch, I'd imagine that she might have panicked after giving birth - some young women exist in a state of denial until they are presented with the 'evidence' - but I don't know.

Technically, if the fetus drew a breath, I think that means it was alive (legally). It could certainly do that while still attached to the mother (babies do that all the time, right?)

The article is very biased, obviously. The sheriff wants 'justice' - I think they should wait and see what the autopsy reveals.

[mistertrickster]

8. Good point. We don't have any specifics on the woman's history of mental illness or

her age or even her name.

She might have been 13 for all we know.

The story seems designed to play up the "outrage" aspects without any explanation of the whys and wherefores.

[napi21]

2. Boy is that an intriguing law! I'd be surprised if even liberal

NY or CA have such a law!

[mistertrickster]

4. Another thing that doesn't sound right -- the investigator says, "as long

as the mother and child are still attached by the umbilical cord or something."

Or something?

What else would they be attached by?

[Jamastiene]

5. And how often do you hear an investigator use such layman's terminology.

If they were explaining the law, they would use more specific terminology. It sounds made up.

[azurnoir]

7. some answers I think

yes and no.
1 sometimes the placenta does not detach on its own, the continuing contractions after the baby is out are what not only detaches the placenta but also closes off the blood supply coming from the mother sometimes this does not happen a it should

2 it is more possible that the newborn could suffocate with the umbilical still attached if was pinched off somehow that could be from positioning of the mother or baby or I guess it could be on purpose

3 yes but not too likely what is far more likely is that even if the umbilical detached properly newborns have a lot of mucus and goo in their mouths and noses that has to be removed lest they breath it in and some newborns do not start breathing on their own either, hence the classic slap on the rump to make them cry but in a delivery room situation there is always a scramble to clean out the babies nose and mouth also because at worst breathing the stuff in can cause pneumonia or death it sounds like the women was alone and the baby suffocated of natural causes but without an autopsy who knows

[mistertrickster]

9. Interesting point no. 3. I had forgotten about that, the cleaning of the airways. nt

[azurnoir]

10. actually #2 describes the birth of my oldest child

who was technically stillborn no heartbeat no pulse due the the umbilical cord being pinch off in the birth canal, she recently celebrated her 30th birthday and designs and builds custom multi-media computers for a living but intro to the world was being zapped back to life

[Warpy]

13. Exactly, they need an autopsy

to determine whether or not it suffocated and on what.

Also, I can't imagine a woman with a retained placenta with a living or dead infant attached to it who wouldn't be motivated to at least cut that cord. I mean, think of trying to pee, surely she had to do that in that 10 hours.

[dgibby]

11. WSLS is a local Roanoke, Va. tv station.

I grew up watching that station. They were always reliable,IIRC, so I'd tend to believe the story unless there's something more we don't know.

As for Va. law, there are some strange laws on the books there. We had Blue laws when I was a kid. You could buy a Playboy magazine, but not a Bible on Sunday, because the law stated you couldn't sell books on Sunday, but magazines were ok. Duh!

As for Campbell Co, it's a very, very conservative part of the state(Jerry Falwell country), also somewhat rural, so the statements made by law enforcement there are not surprising. It's God, guns, and apple pie in that neck of the woods.

[Warpy]

12. The placenta begins to detach from the uterine wall

as soon as the kiddo hits the air and is quickly delivered.

Whether or not the kid was attached to the placenta if the placenta was outside the uterus should be irrelevant in this case.

Yes, it's possible the whole thing was accidental because giving birth alone is just not a good idea, period, but if it's proven to be intentional, there need to be a lot of additional questions asked.

The circumstances suggest the mother should get a psychiatric evaluation, not automatic prison.

[azurnoir]

15. It does not always detach on its own

when it does not there is a very real risk of the mother bleeding to death, if the placenta was still attached to the mother she wasn't moving too far, if at all

[EmeraldCityGrl]

14. No, yes and yes.

I'm not a physician but this is my understanding.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

16. Answers

1. Usually. That would assume however that the placenta was still attached when the police arrived. That may or may not be the case.

2. Yes quite possible.

3. Yes certainly possible. Losing that much blood however would almost certainly require treatment.

[Blue Diadem]

17. Strange story. Another story says the baby's airway was still blocked yet

the baby was under covers and suffocated by the Mom.

http://www2.wsls.com/sls/news/local/lynchburg/article/mother_wont_be_charged_with_babys_death_because_of_law_loophole/68659/

[Ms. Toad]

18. I think it is a politically motivated attempt to change

the partial birth infanticide law (i.e. partial birth abortion), which cannot be used to charge the mother. They probably want it expanded so mom can be charged under that law, but "pretending" that the child was only partially born because the partial birth law prohibits charging mom. I don't see anything that prohibits a charge of murder by distinguishing between an infant connected by an unbilical cord and on not connected -I suspect the plain old murder statutes would work just as well, but they are not politically expedient.

§ 18.2-71.1. Partial birth infanticide; penalty.

<snip>

F. The mother may not be prosecuted for any criminal offense based on the performance of any act or procedure by a physician in violation of this section.

http://leg1.state.va.us/000/cod/18.2-71.1.HTM