Refused Caesarean, baby dies

[Leslie]

As Melissa Ann Rowland's unborn twins got closer to birth, doctors repeatedly told her they would likely die if she did not have a Caesarean section. She refused, and one later was stillborn. Authorities charged 28-year-old Rowland with murder on Thursday, saying she exhibited "depraved indifference to human life," according to court documents. Prosecutors said Rowland didn't want to be scarred, and one nurse told police that Rowland said she would rather "lose one of the babies than be cut like that." But Rowland is denying the charge, telling Salt Lake City radio station KSL from jail that she has had other children delivered by C-section and that "I already have a pretty nasty scar, it doesn't matter at all now." The case could affect abortion rights and open the door to the prosecution of mothers who smoke or don't follow their obstetrician's diet, said Marguerite Driessen, a law professor at Brigham Young University. "It's very troubling to have somebody come in and say we're going to charge this mother for murder because we don't like the choices she made," she said. Her attorney, Michael Sikora, told The Salt Lake Tribune that Rowland has a long history of mental illness. He called C-section a "major surgery" and said "it would come as no surprise that a woman with major mental illness would fear it." Rowland, who lives in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, was warned numerous times between Christmas and Jan. 9 that her unborn twins would likely die if she did not get immediate medical treatment, the documents allege. When she delivered them on Jan. 13, the twin girl survived but the boy died. Rowland has been in jail since shortly after giving birth in mid-January on a child endangerment charge involving the surviving twin, who has been adopted. Rowland moved to Utah with a boyfriend and is either divorced or estranged from her husband, Sikora said. The woman sought medical advice in December because she hadn't felt the fetuses move, documents said. Regina Davis, a nurse at LDS Hospital in Salt Lake, told police that during a visit there, Rowland was recommended two hospitals to go to for immediate care. Rowland allegedly said she would rather have both twins die before she went to either of the suggested hospitals. On Jan. 2, a doctor at LDS Hospital saw Rowland and recommended she immediately undergo a C-section based on the results of an ultrasound and the fetus' slowing heart rates. Rowland left after signing a document stating that she understood that leaving might result in death or brain injury to one or both twins, the doctor told police. The same day, a nurse at Salt Lake Regional Hospital saw Rowland, who allegedly told her she had left LDS Hospital because the doctor wanted to cut her "from breast bone to pubic bone," a procedure that would "ruin her life." LDS Hospital can't comment on the case because of medical privacy issues and the pending court case, said spokesman Robert Pexton. The doctor who performed an autopsy found that the fetus died two days before delivery and would have survived if Rowland had undergone a C-section when urged to do so. It was not immediately clear how far along Rowland was in her pregnancy. She was charged in Salt Lake County with one first-degree felony count of criminal homicide. Rowland was being held on $250,000 bail at the Salt Lake County jail, and was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday. If convicted, she could be sentenced to between five years and life in prison. A spokesman for the district attorney, Kent Morgan, said Rowland is married and has other children, but he did not know how many. "We are unable to find any reason other than the cosmetic motivations by the mother" for her decision, Morgan said. Caesarean sections usually involve delivery through a surgical incision in the abdomen and front wall of the uterus. Dr. Christian Morgan, a family practice doctor who regularly performs C-sections at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, said he had never seen vertical skin incisions performed at LDS Hospital for a first-time C-section. "Even when you need to get a baby out in minutes, it can still be done in the bikini incision," Christian Morgan said.

sad story

this is...I think the right decision was made to charge in this case...I don't though like the precedent...it makes me wonder now...should a woman choose a midwife over a doctor and something tragic happens, should she eat fish once too many times...I guess I just hope there's restraint when applying this in future.

 

[Gato_Solo]

sad story

this is...I think the right decision was made to charge in this case...I don't though like the precedent...it makes me wonder now...should a woman choose a midwife over a doctor and something tragic happens, should she eat fish once too many times...I guess I just hope there's restraint when applying this in future.

Riiiiight. Just remember, Leslie, anytime there's a rule, somebody will find a way to misuse it.

 

[Squiggy]

I read this morning and i too had mixed emotions on the story....Opens the door for mandatory surgery.

 

[PT]

Hmm.... Charged because she chose natural birth rather than a C-section. Hmmm....

 

[Ms Ann Thrope]

I guess I just hope there's restraint when applying this in future.

I hope so too, but I know there won't be. In fact, right now I hear the cheering of 1000s of anti-choice advocates.

 

[tonksy]

i find it hard to believe that any human being would choose the life of another (especially a baby) over a two inch scar that the majority of people would never see....it just boggles my mind....

 

[unclehobart]

THe booking photo was about as unflattering as possible.

 

[Gato_Solo]

I hope so too, but I know there won't be. In fact, right now I hear the cheering of 1000s of anti-choice advocates.

Not only them...it'll be every nutcase in the area hoping to cause somebody grief...the same type of person who turns in a parent for slapping a child on the bum when the child is acting up, and totally ignores the neighbor's kids who always seem to be badly bruised...You know the type of person I'm talking about...

 

[MrBishop]

sad story

this is...I think the right decision was made to charge in this case...I don't though like the precedent...it makes me wonder now...should a woman choose a midwife over a doctor and something tragic happens, should she eat fish once too many times...I guess I just hope there's restraint when applying this in future.

What exactly is wrong with using a midwife, again?

 

[Leslie]

nothing at all, in my opinion, it's the using of the doctor that's the wrong. unfortunately, lots of the medical community doesn't agree

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

the thing what struck me about the story, is the way it contradicted itself.
is she married? or is she divorced?
it's clear she had other csections, so why, at the end, is having a "first" csection mentioned?
all in all, a very confusing story about a very confusing woman.

and the comment about how it's not surprising that a mentally ill woman would fear csections offended me somewhat. i hate any statement that generalises people with mental illnesses, be they "major"or not. the comment seemed purely driven by Spite.

anti-choice advocates.

that's what i call them, too. and it's sad that that title is even able to be used

 

[MrBishop]

In regards to this story...it's tragic that this woman made the decision that she did. The results were pretty bad, but if the second child had survived, the story might've gone something like this:

"Woman makes herioc effort to ensure the 'natural' birth of her twins"
A woman gave birth today to a boy and a girl (twins), after having gone through heroic efforts to maintain her dignity and the control over her own body, when she denied Doctors' demands that she undergo a C-Section. The two children, both healthy, are living proof that a woman's rights to choose which medical path she wants to follow often vanquishes Doctors' lawsuit-fearing methodology

 

[freako104]

the thing what struck me about the story, is the way it contradicted itself.
is she married? or is she divorced?
it's clear she had other csections, so why, at the end, is having a "first" csection mentioned?
all in all, a very confusing story about a very confusing woman.

and the comment about how it's not surprising that a mentally ill woman would fear csections offended me somewhat. i hate any statement that generalises people with mental illnesses, be they "major"or not. the comment seemed purely driven by Spite.



that's what i call them, too. and it's sad that that title is even able to be used

I dont find it sad so much as well in a way disturbing they are proud to be called that. While I wish she did take the docs advise(see my earlier posts on choice) she had a right to make that decision herself.

 

[Professur]

Her attorney, Michael Sikora, told The Salt Lake Tribune that Rowland has a long history of mental illness

*walks away, slowly shaking head*

 

[Squiggy]

It takes a strange twist...

Report: Utah Mom Probed in Baby-Sale Scam
Sun Mar 14, 8:35 PM

Melissa Ann Rowland, 28, is shown in this police photo...

SALT LAKE CITY - Prosecutors are investigating whether a woman charged with killing her baby by refusing a Caesarean section tried to scam a couple by offering to sell them the non-existent child for bail money, a newspaper reported.

Deputy Salt Lake County District Attorney Kent Morgan told the Deseret News his office was reviewing the allegations from a California couple who said they accepted collect telephone calls from Melissa Rowland from jail.

Rowland, 28, accused of refusing a C-section for her unborn twins because she feared scarring, has been jailed on criminal homicide and child endangerment charges.

In a jailhouse interview Friday with The Associated Press, Rowland said without prompting that she had not tried to sell the babies, but did not elaborate. The latest allegations apparently came after the interview.

One of the twins, a boy, was stillborn on Jan. 13. A girl survived and has since been adopted, but prosecutors say she tested positive for cocaine and alcohol.

Brian Farley told the newspaper for Sunday's editions that the adoption agency he and his wife were using contacted them about possibly adopting Rowland's baby boy.

The Sacramento couple said Rowland offered to give them a boy if they paid her $5,000 bail. They were unaware that Rowland had already given birth to a stillborn baby boy and thought she was in jail only on child endangerment charges.

Under the assumption their attorney had checked Rowland's background, Farley said he and his wife agreed to accept collect telephone calls from the woman from jail. The calls began Feb. 26 and ended March 2, he said.

Rowland's attorney has said she had a long history of mental illness.

 

[Professur]

You cunt. I was eating when that pic popped up.

 

[MrBishop]

Christ...does this woman have no morals whatsoever?

There's 'history of mental problems' and ther is 'outirght insanity'. Not sure where this 'woman' fits on that particualr spectrum.

*Walks around mumbling to himself and shaking his head*

 

[Squiggy]

I have to ponder an immaculate conception here....I know I wouldn't touch that with anyone's dick...

 

[Gato_Solo]

I have to ponder an immaculate conception here....I know I wouldn't touch that with anyone's dick...

At least we know it wasn't you, Squiggy...Tweren't me, niether...

 

[Gonz]

I've never been that drunk & I've been awfully drunk. :shudders: