Mother gets 20 years for infant’s death due to ‘negligent breastfeeding’
18 replies, posted
[QUOTE]In an unusual case a South Carolina woman has been sentenced to prison for the involuntary death of her young infant, stemming from her decision to breastfeed, and the resulting death of her daughter due to a drug overdose. Greene, a now-39-year-old nurse, was convicted by a jury last Thursday of homicide by child abuse, involuntary manslaughter and unlawful conduct towards a child in what has been deemed a case of [I]“negligent breastfeeding.”[/I] On Friday, a judge sentenced Greene to 20 years in prison. She would be eligible for parole after 16 years.
In 2010 Greene was taking morphine to deal with the pain of fibromyalgia, defined as a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, sleep, memory and mood issues. But she had also been involved in a near-fatal car accident in 1998 that left her with a skull fracture, a closed head injury, occipital nerve disruption, multiple rib fractures, a fractured humorous and a fractured pelvis.
Pregnant at the time, Greene suffered a miscarriage, and has since suffered from seizures, chronic pain and post-traumatic stress disorder, the Guardian reports.
Her daughter Alexis was six weeks old when Greene called the police, reporting her baby was unconscious in bed and felt cold. On a recording of the call, she sounded groggy and unfocused, the Associated Press reports.
Greene tried to do CPR, but had trouble counting to keep pace. Investigators at the scene found dozens of pill bottles and painkiller patches on her nightstand where the couple’s then 4-year-old son could get to them.
Rauch Wise, her lawyer, said that Greene relied on her own judgment and medical research on the Internet, rather than the advice of doctors, in the decision to breastfeed her daughter Alexis, according to the AP. [I]“She needed those meds to get up in the morning and function,”[/I] Wise said. [I]“She was on total disability because of her pain, her fibromyalgia and all the other things wrong with her.”[/I] He added that losing her child was punishment enough.
[I]“Acknowledging her need for and use of morphine was apparently damning in the eyes of the jury, but as a matter of science it is entirely irrelevant. Trace amounts of painkiller appear in the milk of women taking codeine or morphine, and a fraction (roughly 10%) ends up in the child – 2 or 3 billionths of a gram – the effects of which are negligible,”[/I] Steven Karch, an expert witness for the defense, writes in a [URL="https://mail.rttvamerica.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=46786045804e4d6dac261b5fb7272ffd&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.theguardian.com%2fscience%2f2014%2fapr%2f09%2fmanslaughter-conviction-negligent-breastfeeding-mothers%3fCMP%3dtwt_gu"]Guardian op-ed[/URL].
[I]“No morphine-related death from breastfeeding has ever been reported in a peer-reviewed journal, and in fact the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the use of morphine in preference to some other narcotics for women who are nursing babies.”[/I]
According to the coroner’s report, there was enough morphine in Alexis’ system - almost 50 times greater than would be expected in the infant - to possibly kill an adult. Three other drugs were also present in the baby’s system.
[I]“This is not an indictment on breast feeding,"[/I] prosecutor Barry Barnette told [URL="https://mail.rttvamerica.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=46786045804e4d6dac261b5fb7272ffd&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.reuters.com%2farticle%2f2014%2f04%2f04%2fus-usa-south-carolina-breastmilk-idUSBREA331G120140404"]Reuters[/URL].
[I]“She loved her drugs more than she loved her baby."[/I]
Greene had lost her nursing license in 2004 for trying to get drugs illegally and for refusing a drug test, and hid her pregnancy from doctors to continue receiving her prescriptions.
Karch argues that, for the prosecution’s theory to be correct, the baby’s stomach would have contained high concentrations of morphine, that the mother’s blood would have accumulated morphine metabolites, and that the mother’s hair would have shown if she had been taking higher-than-prescribed doses of medication. None of those tests were performed.
[I]“In short, no real forensic investigation was conducted, just an autopsy with no diagnostic findings. If no drugs had been detected, death would have been attributed to [SIDS] (sudden infant death syndrome or “cot death”).”[/I]
Karch believes that Alexis’ death was due to a genetic defect, referring to a similar case in Toronto in 2005. There, the mother’s genome showed she carried multiple copies of a codeine-converting enzyme that caused her to produce too much morphine from the codeine she was taking, poisoning and killing her child. He also writes that around a fifth of all SIDS deaths are due to genetic defects, but no genetic testing occurred.
The case has created controversy in parenting and breastfeeding communities online. [I]“I'd like to go on record saying this is an unbelievably harsh sentence that has no compassion in it whatsoever,”[/I] Kiri Blakeley, a blogger for [URL="https://mail.rttvamerica.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=46786045804e4d6dac261b5fb7272ffd&URL=http%3a%2f%2fthestir.cafemom.com%2fin_the_news%2f170734%2fmom_gets_20_years_in"]Cafe Mom’s The Stir[/URL], writes.
[I]“While I agree she should have been charged and punished, given that she hid her addiction from doctors and as a nurse should have known this was dangerous (whether she did or not isn't clear but she should have), I find the sentence to be extreme.”[/I]
[I]"When reading the news stories on this case, I was skeptical that the baby overdosed from drugs in the mother's milk,"[/I] Rachelle, the owner of Unlatched, a Facebook page that focuses on evidence-based research on breastfeeding and formula use, told [URL="https://mail.rttvamerica.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=46786045804e4d6dac261b5fb7272ffd&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.sheknows.com%2fparenting%2farticles%2f1034413%2fmother-sentenced-for-killing-baby-with-drugged-breast-milk"]SheKnows.com[/URL].
[I]"The amount of drugs that gets into milk isn't very high — it's a small percentage. I would assume that the mother would have had to ingest a lethal amount for herself for it to have caused the levels found in the baby."[/I]
Greene is the first case in the US where a mother has been prosecuted for transmitting a substance to her child via breast milk. Barnette said that Greene still faces 38 charges of fraudulently obtaining drugs. The defense plans to appeal the conviction.[/QUOTE]
[URL]http://rt.com/usa/mother-20-prison-negligent-breastfeeding-524/[/URL]
[QUOTE]She loved the drugs more than she loved her baby.[/QUOTE]
Drugs do terrible things to your brain. You can't deny you have a major problem when the drugs overpower your motherly instincts/love for your baby.
[QUOTE]According to the coroner’s report, there was enough morphine in Alexis’ system - almost 50 times greater than would be expected in the infant - to possibly kill an adult. Three other drugs were also present in the baby’s system. [/QUOTE]
Holy fucking shit that is a LOT of morphine!!
Really? 20 years?
-snip-
[editline]9th April 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=isnipeu;44504796]Really? 20 years?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]According to the coroner’s report, there was enough morphine in Alexis’ system - almost 50 times greater than would be expected in the infant - to possibly kill an adult. Three other drugs were also present in the baby’s system.[/QUOTE]
She went against medical professionals' advice and her child died. Perhaps 20 years is too harsh but there's no denying she killed that child.
In honesty you can't blame her, she is really fucked up from what happened to her. That sorta stuff sends you on a downward spiral... its just a pity that it resulted in the death of the infant.
Of course she should get some time for this...but 20 years?
[QUOTE=Ruski v2.0;44504828]In honesty you can't blame her, she is really fucked up from what happened to her. That sorta stuff sends you on a downward spiral... its just a pity that it resulted in the death of the infant.[/QUOTE]
You can't blame me I was high.
This reminds me of my co-worker who recently (well, 2 years ago) got custody of his two nephews because his sister-in-law was all whacked-out on meth and other drugs (the youngest was born addicted to Oxycontin). She could've gotten her kids back, as she was given the choice of signing them over, or going to rehab. She chose handing them over, as did her boyfriend at the time.
2 years later and she's still a druggie, though she claims to be clean. There was a recent fuss concerning her because she thought the guardianship my co-worker got was just temporary. She wasn't too keen on discovering that she signed away ALL rights to her children, claiming that my co-worker's lawyer tricked her into doing it.
[quote]But she had also been involved in a near-fatal car accident in 1998 that left her with a skull fracture, a closed head injury, occipital nerve disruption, multiple rib fractures, a fractured humorous and a fractured pelvis.[/quote]
A fractured humorous?
:v:
[QUOTE=Jakobi;44504797]-snip-
[editline]9th April 2014[/editline][/QUOTE]
As if it matters how much drug killed the baby. She was drugged and probably not in the state to realize that her milk is currently a poison. An accidentally killed baby is dead either way, the baby being VERY DEAD doesn't make it any less of an accident. It's retarded, you can get less for an actual murder. She needs therapy, not a quarter of lifetime in jail for something she never intended and something that will probably haunt her for the rest of her life anyway.
I'd like a source that isn't Russia Today
[QUOTE=download;44505320]I'd like a source that isn't Russia Today[/QUOTE]
[url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/apr/09/manslaughter-conviction-negligent-breastfeeding-mothers%3fCMP%3dtwt_gu]This article written by one of the defense's expert witnesses is pretty informative.[/url]
It seems like a case that was handled poorly. I don't think the mother comes close to deserving the sentence she received.
[QUOTE=supersnail11;44504837]Of course she should get some time for this...but 20 years?[/QUOTE]
If you read about her situation you'll see she really shouldn't even have had a child to begin with. She has far too many serious problems to deal with that adding caring properly for a baby is just not going to happen.
Then this happens. It does not add up to "Oops, it's a mistake that could happen to anyone" instead it adds up to a series of decisions made by this woman that show the baby's care was not something she put real effort into. That's pretty much as negligent in causing a baby's death as you can get. 20 years sounds like they gave her the max sentence for her level of crime. That's fair because it involves a baby.
basically
the prosecution instead of basing a case on sound science that the kid got into mommy's pills (which are all over, and is still criminal) or that she accidentally gave the kid pills, they went with an outlandish theory that doesn't hold up under scrutiny
what are they teaching law students anymore? shit if the crime is physically impossible you can't argue that it happened that way.
[QUOTE=Sio;44504884]You can't blame me I was high.[/QUOTE]
Ahaha because many people don't start strong drugs because they are looking for a solution for life problems they feel they can't handle, realize it's bad, but can't stop because the addiction is so strong it overpowers basic instinct such as protecting your child, right?
Get over yourself.
Also about this posts dumbs, it very much shows (sadly but unsuprisingly) how many people love jumping to conclusions. Not most people, but definitely some. It goes to show some people like to think because they haven't experienced a feeling like that, they think no one else did. There are people who experience a feeling like that (i.e mental pain, stress, or physical pain likely multiple with the mother) and feel that drugs are the only way to escape, because they feel way too overwhelmed. Then they might realize their mistake, but can't quit. Tbh if you haven't experienced addiction (not necessarily from drugs) you are in no position to assume that quiting it is as easy as 1, 2, 3, especially since many people can be more prone to drugs than others. You can't know how hard it would be for the mother to quit, I sure don't, so don't assume. But do know that obviously she was addicted enough that she prioritized drugs over her child (or less likely had another problem), not unheard of, they can definitely do that to people, and that she really doesn't deserve 20 years, or any years in jail, she needs help. Especially with all that has happened to her, her accident, losing her child, etc.
20 years is disgusting
[QUOTE=Sableye;44507546]basically
the prosecution instead of basing a case on sound science that the kid got into mommy's pills (which are all over, and is still criminal) or that she accidentally gave the kid pills, they went with an outlandish theory that doesn't hold up under scrutiny
what are they teaching law students anymore? shit if the crime is physically impossible you can't argue that it happened that way.[/QUOTE]
I would not be in such a hurry to accept what a defense witness says as absolute truth. It's what they are paid for after all, to spin things in favor of the defense.
What is it about this woman's actions that support the idea that she was a great and attentive mother? Everything I see, even leaving out that her baby died, is that she was self absorbed enough to have a child when she really wasn't in a position to manage her own life properly. Unless you believe things like losing her license is a sign of stability and responsibility.
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