Death by way of toxic breastmilk
Posted
April 24, 2006 at
7:04 am by
Jessica
Newsnet5.com reports the following Associated Press story that will have breastfeeding zealots agasp the world over:
PRESCOTT, Mich. — A mother has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of her infant daughter.
Ogemaw County prosecutors said the 5-month-old girl died after drinking breast milk containing cocaine.
Assistant Prosecutor Scott Williams said she wasn’t charged with murder because he believes the death was not intentional.
Prosecutors allege the mother used cocaine while she was breast-feeding the child.
They said the drug was passed on through her breast milk.
Record show the woman called 911 in August 2005 to report that her baby wasn’t breathing.
The mother was arrested Thursday and released on a personal recognizance bond.
She is scheduled to be arraigned May 18 in district court and could face up to 15 years in prison.
How will the breastfeeding spin doctors handle this? Denial? Accusations of further conspiracy theories? Claim that even cocaine ridden breastmilk is still better than corporate sponsored infant milk (at least there is one less person in which they can profit from)? She didn’t have enough societal support?
Who knows? Hopefully this woman will be punished for gross negligence (at the very least) resulting in the death of an infant, and those with an agenda don’t cloud, pressure or influence based on their wishes to promote breastfeeding and hide any negative outcome (no matter how rare it is). If this story proves to be true, then deadly toxic amounts of substances can allegedly be passed through breastmilk; that fact should be presented to mothers as part of infant nutrition education. Although it is a tragedy that can clearly be avoided, we have to stop presenting breastmilk as something that is impervious to human incompetence.
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3 Responses to “Death by way of toxic breastmilk”
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1. SewingSiren said:
April 24, 2006 @ 10:21 am | Quote
Firstly, I am no breastfeeding zealot, but I certainly know a few people(both on line and in real life) that may be considered such, and I have NEVER never known anyone that would suggest that it was safe or wise for a woman who is using cocaine to nurse a baby, nor have I ever read anything that would suggest that . I would venture to say that it would be unsafe for someone is under the influence of coke to take care of a baby at all, regardless of how they are feeding it.
I agree the mother is grossly negligent and that this crime should not go unpunished. How to punish her? I don’t know, is seems to me she has already punished herself worse than any court of law could.
2. Kristy said:
April 24, 2006 @ 5:15 pm | Quote
I can’t imagine that anyone would defend this woman. What she did was unforgivably stupid and wrong.
3. Veronica said:
April 25, 2006 @ 8:16 pm | Quote
I am one of the “breastfeeding zealots” that you refer to and as far as I know, no one suggests that a mom should breastfeed while using cocaine. All the sites that I regularly refer to specifically state that a breastfeeding mom should not use cocaine but if she does, she should not breastfeed and get help with her addiction (see, e.g., http://www.breastfeedingbasics.com/html/drugs_and_bf.shtml). I believe that the fact of the danger of using “recreational drugs” while breastfeeding is well advertised by breastfeeding promoters.