UPDATE, January 21, 2008: Mother charged in drowning case
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UPDATE, January 19, 2008: Twin expected to survive drowning attempt
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Milwaukee has two more homicides. Both of them were babies.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
A 2-week-old boy is dead and his twin brother hospitalized after their mother attempted to drown both of them in a north side home Friday, police said.
In a second case, police announced that the death of another baby this month had also been determined to be a homicide.
In the case of the twins, police were sent to a home in the 3200 block of W. Senator Ave. about 1:15 p.m. when the boys' grandmother reported that the infants had been drowned by their mother, said Milwaukee police spokeswoman Anne E. Schwartz.
When police arrived, they arrested a 37-year-old woman in connection with the death of the drowned boy, Schwartz said.
The other boy was taken to a hospital, and his condition was not available.
...Also Friday afternoon, a 20-year-old man was charged with killing a 7-month old girl.
Cedric Q. McMurray was charged with second-degree reckless homicide in connection with the death of Kenia Daniels-McMurray, according to online state court records.
The infant's death Jan. 10 was initially thought to have been caused by neglect, but it was later determined that blunt force trauma also contributed to her death, Schwartz said.
According to a Milwaukee County medical examiner's report filed at the time of the girl's death, the baby was found dead Jan. 10 in a bed she shared with a 3-year-old brother and 2-year-old sister.
She had been dead more than 12 hours and had not been checked on for more than 16 hours before her mother found her, the report states.
A physician who had been providing prenatal care to the mother had not seen the infant since she was born, and the girl had not received any immunization shots, the report says.
McMurray is the boyfriend of the girl's mother but his relationship with the infant was not clear, Schwartz said.
According to a report by Chris Goodman of FOX 6 News, it's possible that the mother suffered from depression.
She recently moved to Milwaukee from Texas. She may have been depressed about the death of her 18-year-old son in November.
A neighbor said he was an "A" student, preparing for college, and a basketball player. The neighbor said he was shot by a "friend" because "he was jealous of his life."
I wonder if in addition to being depressed over this terrible loss the mother had postpartum depression. Her twins were born only two weeks ago.
In any event, it's horrible that she succeeded in drowning her one son and tried to drown his twin.
It took over a week for the other case to be ruled a homicide. Beyond being a victim of neglect, blunt force trauma played a part in the death of 7-month-old Kenia Daniels-McMurray.
Cedric Q. McMurray was charged in connection with her death.
This is one case where the problem was the presence of the father as opposed to the usual problem of the father being absent from the lives of their children.
These babies were completely innocent victims.
It's heartbreaking.
4 comments:
Are you being sarcastic?
I can't tell.
Postpartum depression is real. It's a serious condition.
That said, I don't consider it to be an excuse for one's actions.
Of course PPD wouldn't be an "excuse" for one's actions, that's not the right word to use here, but it can absolutely blur a woman's decision-making skills, let alone her sanity, and be the cause behind actions that mentally healthy people have a difficulty in comprehending. For example, in the case of Andrea Yates, her PPD that eventually evolved into PPP (postpartum psychosis) was the cause behind the horrible actions she took to kill her kids. I don't think we should blame the woman....we should blame the disease. And then do something to help prevent it from happening to anyone else.
I don't buy into your "blame the disease" notion.
While psychological conditions and behavioral disorders impact an individual's behavior, I think that the bar should be set very high when it comes to using them for a "get out of jail free" pass.
I have great compassion for those suffering from such problems, but I also believe that they must be held accountable for what they do.
Andrea Yates knew that it was wrong to murder her children.
That was quite a while ago. How old would Noah be now? About 14?
And baby Mary-- She'd be in 2nd grade.
I agree with Kristin, in that PPD is not an "excuse", but it does drastically alter a woman's decision making skills.
In this story, the mother had twins two weeks prior. Were they delivered natural or via cesarean as most twins are these days. If by c/s, she was recovering from major surgery.
One baby up all night is a challenge for any new mother. Two babies up all night, while a mother is recovering from delivery is another challenge. Add sleep deprivation, malnutrition, trying to breastfeed for the first time and then some, would leave anyone with altered decision making skills.
Did she have family support? What was her support system? Was anyone there to mother the new mother? This is something that has gone by the wayside as people no longer live near family.
If we are going to place blame anywhere, we need to place this blame on society. Or better said, the responsibility for these mothers in in the hands of our society. The medical community, the insurance companies, and the media.
The medical community needs to assess & screen these women prior to discharge from the hospital. Are they at risk for developing PPD or other postpartum mood disorders?
Then the OB needs to screen & assess the mother at the postpartum follow up visit, be it 2 weeks post cesarean, or 6 weeks post vaginal. If the OB is not equipped to do this, then he needs to contract out. Best scenario is to send a nurse to the mother's home to screen and assess her in her own environment.
Pediatricians need to screen and assess the mothers at the babies 2 week check up and beyond, through the first year of life. In addition to asking how much the baby is eating, measuring the length, weight and head circumference, there needs to be a question in there asking mom if she is ok. Is she adjusting ok to motherhood. Does she need support.
Then, make the right referrals to community support.
Insurance companies need to pay nurses to come into the home to screen for postpartum mood disorders several times throughout the first year of life. In addition, if insurance companies compensated for postpartum doula care, then the trained doula, would be able to pick up on signs and symptoms and make referrals to the community. The support that a postpartum doula can offer is immeasurable. The doula mothers the new mother. The doula helps tend to the needs of the baby and the needs of the mother, thus helping to facilitate recovery from birth and a healthy adjustment into motherhood.
The media, needs to get the word out that these needs are ever so present. Not just sensationalize the horror stories. We need to STOP infantcide, not sell more newspapers with it.
Support for postpartum mood disorders can be found at
http://buoyforperinatalblues.blogspot.com/
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