Mom Charged With Manslaughter In Infant's Death

[junestars]

co-sleeping mama delurking breifly to post this disturbing story I stumbled upon, wondering if anyone had anymore info. I couldn't seem to find anything else but this brief paragraph. So sad. :(

http://www.thechamplainchannel.com/news/6714163/detail.html?rss=pla&psp=news

Mom Charged With Manslaughter In Infant's Death

POSTED: 4:12 pm EST February 3, 2006

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- A mother is accused of smothering her 2-month-old baby while sleeping in the same bed.

The Warren County Sheriff's Office said deputies charged Amy Campbell, 33, with manslaughter in the death of her infant son, Dominick Margeglia.

Officials said the incident happened in North Creek in the Adirondacks. No other details were immediately available

[Beeblebrox]

And mothers whose children die of SIDS while sleeping alone in a crib...are they charged with neglect*? I'm thinkin' no.

*I don't actually think it's neglect. I find co-sleeping to be a wonderful thing that helps to facilitate attachment parenting, but I know it isn't for everyone. Simply using it as an example.

Now, if they find that this woman as drunk, on drugs, etc. THEN I might be able to understand, but if it's an accident...I find it to be uncessary to punish an already grieving mother because like the situation I used above, would she have been charged for SIDS?

[rozzie'sma]

I think I am going to be sick. I really hope more details surface soon.

[Talula Fairie]

I don't think they can do that, legally, unless the mother was on drugs or drinking. Otherwise the death would be "accidential" And how do they know this wasn't just a SIDS death? There has to be something more to this story.

And p.s. I so hate that the media makes a big deal about seemingly every child who dies while co sleeping but yet the thousands of babies who die in cribs go unreported.... /rant

[phathui5]

That poor mother. As if what she's going through isn't punishment enough.

[wannabe]

http://www.wrgb.com/engine.pl?station=wrgb&id=1372&template=breakout_top_story.shtml&dateformat=%25M+%25e,%25Y

They say she was drunk and on drugs as she slept next to the baby. Cleveland says they have now charged the mother, with manslaughter in the child's death.

[blessed]

One of my on-line doc colleagues serves on a review board for infant deaths. If this is the same case, I think this mom had already lost one child to positional aphyxia, had undergone appropriate counseling about risk reduction, but didn't change anything with the second baby. There were apparently issues with alcohol use and bulky adult type bedding and pillows so that if the babe ended up face down and wasn't righted, he would asphyxiate in the blankets.

I co sleep with my chld frequently and am not an opponent of it. But you do have to exercise some common sense and responsibilty, just as in everything else we do with our kids.

I don't know how I feel about the prosecution. Murder charges seems extreme to me, but manslaughter seems like it might be applied fairly, given the circumstances.

Just a terrible, terrible case.

[mightymoo]

I remember another case like this a few years ago - the mother was charged, at the time the baby died, she was very drunk and she had overdosed the child on benadryl. Also, it was her second child to have died this way. (It makes me ill to think about) I think they give a mother the benefit of the doubt in these cases - at least in the one I'm remembering the mother was drunk there too - but she wasn't charged that time.

[KayasMama04]

I actually saw I think "without a trace" show about a women who did that and blamed the nanny. If this women was on drugs, drunk etc she should not be sleeping with her child. There is a differece in a drunk mother putting her child in the crib and dying of sids then her taking her child to bed and smothering them.

[Precious*]

I read about this story, and if it's the same one, the woman not only was drunk, but has 7 other children--all of whom are living with relatives or in foster care, as this 'mother' has been investigated several times by Child Protective Services, and all 7 of the others had been taken away from her.
She shouldn't have been allowed to keep the youngest one, either.
:( very sad.