Baby Found Dead Inside Trash Can at Hospital : Oxnard: The teen-age mother told police she gave birth to the premature infant after excusing herself to go to the restroom.

A premature baby was found dead of asphyxiation in a restroom trash can at St. John’s hospital in Oxnard, the day after the infant’s 15-year-old mother was treated for leg pain and released from the hospital, police said Wednesday.

Police said that during the mother’s leg examination at St. John’s Regional Medical Center, the Oxnard teen-ager excused herself to go to the bathroom, where she gave birth to the 3-pound, 9-ounce girl Monday. Believing the infant was dead, the mother became frightened and left the baby in a plastic bag at the bottom of a trash can, she told police.

The girl, who police declined to identify, then returned to the emergency room, telling doctors that the blood they observed resulted from her menstrual period, Sgt. Denny Phillips of the Oxnard Police Department said.

More than 24 hours later, a custodian found the baby while emptying the trash and reported it to emergency room staff, who notified police.

An autopsy showed that the baby was born seven or eight months into her mother’s pregnancy and had breathed for a short time before dying of asphyxiation, reported Dr. Ronald O’Halloran, the assistant Ventura County coroner. He did not say what caused the baby to asphyxiate.

The baby could have survived if she had been taken to doctors immediately after birth, Phillips said.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office will decide this week whether to file charges against the mother, he said.

Hospital spokeswoman Rita Schumacher said she could not explain why doctors did not notice the girl’s pregnancy when her mother brought her to the hospital at 4:45 a.m. Monday. The girl was complaining that her leg was numb, Phillips said.

Emergency room staff took the girl’s blood pressure and pulse, Schumacher said. Finding her vital signs to be normal, they allowed her to walk 50 to 100 feet down the hall to a restroom, she said.

During the 5 to 15 minutes the girl was in the bathroom, a nurse knocked on the door. The teen-ager said she was all right, and the nurse returned to her duties, Schumacher said.

When the girl emerged, a doctor examined her and observed what he thought was evidence of a miscarriage, Phillips said. The girl told him she had been menstruating and that she had never been pregnant nor had ever had sex.

After she was admitted for observation of the leg pain and abdominal pain, the girl passed the placenta in her hospital room. Doctors then notified police and the coroner’s office, asking for reports of an abandoned baby, Phillips said.

Monday evening, police investigators questioned the girl, who admitted that she had been having sex with a 26-year-old man but still would not admit that she had given birth, police said.

The girl was released from the hospital Tuesday morning.

“They didn’t find her to be in need of any additional medical treatment, so that’s why they released her,” Schumacher said.

At 11 p.m. Tuesday, a custodian removed a bag of trash from the emergency room restroom and found the baby in another plastic bag at the bottom of the can, where spare bags were stored, Phillips said.

After further questioning, the girl admitted she had given birth, Phillips said. “She thought it was dead, so she was scared, and she put it in a plastic bag,” he said. “She went back out and never told a soul what had happened.”

Police also questioned the girl’s mother, who said she had no idea the girl was pregnant, Phillips said.

“I’m convinced the mother was telling the truth that she had no knowledge” of her daughter’s pregnancy, Phillips said. “I’m sure the kid was very, very scared to admit that she was out doing what she was doing and did not want to bring this shame on her in her mother’s eyes.

“At 15, you’re not probably thinking real straight,” Phillips said. “I don’t know what she expected. Maybe she thought it was going to go away or something.”

Assistant Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Kevin J. McGee said his office will review police reports before deciding whether to file charges, which could range from child endangerment to murder.