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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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 Fri Mar 12, 2004 2:17 pm Woman Charged With Murder of Unborn Child |
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| Quote: | SALT LAKE CITY (March 12) - A woman accused of murder because she allegedly avoided a Caesarean section that could have saved her unborn twin has denied the charge, saying she already had scars from earlier C-sections.
Her attorney, meanwhile, said she had a long history of mental illness.
AP
Melissa Ann Rowland
Melissa Ann Rowland, 28, was charged Thursday of showing ''depraved indifference to human life,'' ignoring medical advice to deliver her twins by C-section because she didn't want to be scarred. One nurse told police Rowland said she would rather ''lose one of the babies than be cut like that.''
Rowland told Salt Lake City radio station KSL from jail that ''I already have a pretty nasty scar, it doesn't matter at all now,'' The Salt Lake Tribune reported.
Her attorney, Michael Sikora, called a C-section major surgery and told the Tribune ''it would come as no surprise that a woman with major mental illness would fear it.''
The documents allege that Rowland 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.
Shortly afterward, Rowland was jailed on a child endangerment charge involving the surviving twin, who has been adopted by a family Rowland knows.
Rowland told the radio station she has two other children who live with their grandparents in Virginia. Sikora said Rowland moved to Utah with a boyfriend and is either divorced or estranged from her husband. She lives in the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan.
A spokesman for the district attorney, Kent Morgan, had said earlier that Rowland was married.
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.
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.
''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.
03-12-04 1155EST
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
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B*tch 
Last edited by Theresa on Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Fri Mar 12, 2004 2:19 pm |
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BTW, Catherine Bell, chick in my av, had a C-section, and she's a hell of a lot better looking that that skank. They do them so the scar is hardly even noticable anymore. Not to mention in a place that you shouldn't be showing publicly, anyway.
-------signature-------
Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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Kyre
Commodore
Joined: 15 Mar 2002
Posts: 1263
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| Fri Mar 12, 2004 2:41 pm |
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I pity her.
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Oliver
Thought Maker
Joined: 28 Feb 2004
Posts: 6096
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
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| Fri Mar 12, 2004 2:57 pm |
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awful. makes me shiver all over.
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John Connor
Admiral of the Terran Empire
Joined: 07 Sep 2002
Posts: 15657
Location: I.S.S Emperor
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| Fri Mar 12, 2004 3:41 pm |
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Its really sicking to hear that someone what person did to her unborn child. Just makes me sick.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Fri Mar 12, 2004 11:21 pm |
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May I ask why? Even if she is found mentally unstable, I think she should have to pay for that. And no, not be put to death, or anything like that, but pay.
-------signature-------
Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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Kyre
Commodore
Joined: 15 Mar 2002
Posts: 1263
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| Sat Mar 13, 2004 11:50 am |
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I mean what I said. I pity her. For a woman to make that kind of decision? Well, she deserves it. I'm not angry at what she did, because she's so pathetic.
On another note, this story brought about a big argument on Fark.com
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Sat Mar 13, 2004 2:35 pm |
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How could any woman murder her flesh and blood? I don't have any pity for her at all.
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Janeway7
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 20 Feb 2004
Posts: 248
Location: Manchester England
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| Sat Mar 13, 2004 5:17 pm Murder of unborn child |
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I had a catherine 31yrs ago .I have a scar from my pelvic to my belly button and i'm proud of it becose it saved my son. GOD give us 10 commandments and one was tho salt not KILL.
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Kate Janeway
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Mar 2002
Posts: 4120
Location: Texas
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| Sat Mar 13, 2004 7:34 pm |
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I really don't think I want to summon the energy to feel real pity or anger, though I think both could be used to apply to the situation. But I hope she gets convicted.
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Kyre
Commodore
Joined: 15 Mar 2002
Posts: 1263
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| Sat Mar 13, 2004 9:19 pm |
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I think murder is a little strong perhaps. She's likely got some mental disorder, or is just a total idiot (to be blunt). Either way I think she'll get manslaughter.
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Kate Janeway
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Mar 2002
Posts: 4120
Location: Texas
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| Sun Mar 14, 2004 12:03 am |
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She made the conscious decision; she gets what she gets.
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Kyre
Commodore
Joined: 15 Mar 2002
Posts: 1263
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| Sun Mar 14, 2004 11:07 am |
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That's just it, maybe it wasn't a concious decision. Perhaps she has some mental instability. Her idea of a cesarean section shows that she has no real clue. We need more facts if we're to judge.
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Kate Janeway
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Mar 2002
Posts: 4120
Location: Texas
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| Sun Mar 14, 2004 7:55 pm |
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Maybe she does have some mental instability. The fact still stands that she made the decision not to have the C-section because she didn't want her life to be "ruined" by the scar. As for her idea of a C-section, she might have been misinformed or she didn't have enough information and she just assumed. Did the article say if she'd had a cesarean section before?
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Kyre
Commodore
Joined: 15 Mar 2002
Posts: 1263
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| Sun Mar 14, 2004 8:29 pm |
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Don't think so. Now though, you're talking of the possibility of the hospital being to blame, at least partly. Did they misinform the patient?
Yes, the fact still stands that she made the decision, but what I'm saying is that if she has got some brain defect, then it opens up the case further.
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Kate Janeway
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Mar 2002
Posts: 4120
Location: Texas
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| Sun Mar 14, 2004 9:10 pm |
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Not necessarily. I was saying maybe they assumed she already knew everything that she needed to know when she didn't, and she didn't care enough to find more information or ask for it.
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Seven of Nine
Sammie's Mammy
Joined: 16 Jun 2001
Posts: 7871
Location: North East England
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| Mon Mar 15, 2004 3:17 am |
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I think this woman should be mentally assessed before she gets charged. A C Section is a scary procedure and it affects you for quite a while afterwards, not just the day you have it. The scar's not too bad though (mine's lobsided  ). I could have refused to have a C Section, and so long as it didn't put my life in danger they couldn't have made me, even though it might have killed Sammie (in my case it would have killed both of us, so I had no choice).
The mother has a right to choose if she wants to try a natural birth, but I'd need to know more about the case before I form an opinion on this, such as how far along was the pregnancy? If it was before 37 weeks there's a risk the babies could have died as they haven't developed properly, in which case the mother could have decided to hold out until then.
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Leo Wyatt
Sweetest Angel
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 19045
Location: Investigating A Crime Scene. What did Quark do this time?
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| Mon Mar 15, 2004 6:58 am |
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I had three c-sections. I may have scars from the previous ones but I would not have killed my daughter. There is no excuse for murder. C-sections are not that bad if you have the right dr. My c-sections never affected me. So I don't have no pitty on that woman, she deserves what she gets. THey are just using the mental thing to get her off. Oh Please get real here.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Mon Mar 15, 2004 9:22 am |
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| Quote: | | 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. |
Both babies were viable. But I guess if you refer to them as a mere "fetus" it eases your conscience, hmm?
C-sections are no longer the big deal that they used to be. No, I've never had one, but I do know several people who have. And I can also read. God forbid the childs life be put before vanity.
-------signature-------
Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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T. Dean
Captain
Joined: 16 Dec 2003
Posts: 715
Location: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
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| Thu Mar 18, 2004 5:32 pm |
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| Oliver wrote: | | awful. makes me shiver all over. |
I'm with you Ollie, this lady's story creeps me out. I am pro-choice but I think if you allow for your baby to die (and that is what she did), especially so late in the term, you oughta have a really good reason for doing it. I believe it was her choice, she made it but she needs to admit that what she did wasn't good. I hate how she's playing the victim. She said she has a mental illness. Usually if you're far gone enough to do something like she did, you probably wouldn't be able to comprehend what your illness is and what it has to do with your actions ... maybe it's somthing her lawyer told her to say.
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Sarah Connor
Rear Admiral
Joined: 10 Jul 2003
Posts: 3644
Location: Kentucky
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| Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:00 pm |
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Terrible! My mom had two sea sections (My sister and I) and she never scarred, it wasn't positive she'd scar. Eggh! I agreee the Ten Commandments State: Tho Shalt Not Kill!
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IntrepidIsMe
Pimp Handed
Joined: 14 Jun 2002
Posts: 13057
Location: New York
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| Thu Mar 18, 2004 9:49 pm |
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If she's mentally disabled, she really can't be held accountable for her actions.
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Kate Janeway
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Mar 2002
Posts: 4120
Location: Texas
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| Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:42 pm |
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This is just my opinion, but if she was mentally disabled, she shouldn't really have taken on the responsiblity of another life.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Thu Mar 18, 2004 11:46 pm |
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Does that mean nothing should happen to her, Aaron? She had other children, and they were basically fine. Someone should have intervened if it was thought she was unstable. Nuts or not, she shouldn't get of scot-free.
-------signature-------
Some of us fall by the wayside
And some of us soar to the stars
And some of us sail through our troubles
And some have to live with our scars
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IntrepidIsMe
Pimp Handed
Joined: 14 Jun 2002
Posts: 13057
Location: New York
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| Sat Mar 20, 2004 12:41 am |
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| Kate Janeway wrote: | | This is just my opinion, but if she was mentally disabled, she shouldn't really have taken on the responsiblity of another life. |
She can't exactly be blamed for that either, if she's mentally unstable....
| Theresa wrote: | | Does that mean nothing should happen to her, Aaron? She had other children, and they were basically fine. Someone should have intervened if it was thought she was unstable. Nuts or not, she shouldn't get of scot-free. |
Of course something should happen to her, she should probably be forced to go to an institution or something along those lines.
Sometimes you really don't know if a person is mentally unstable, in the first place. You just can't expect a mentally disabled person to go and get help for themself,
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