Girl, 15, Gives Birth in Hospital Restroom, Leaves Baby to Die

A premature baby was found dead of asphyxiation in an Oxnard hospital trash can the day after her 15-year-old mother was treated for leg numbness and released from the hospital, police said Wednesday.

Officers said that during a leg examination Monday 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 infant. Thinking it was dead, she became frightened and left the baby in a plastic bag at the bottom of a trash can, she told police.

The girl, whom police declined to identify, returned to the emergency room, telling doctors that the blood on her resulted from her menstrual period, said Sgt. Denny Phillips of the Oxnard police. The girl later told police she had not known she was pregnant.

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

An autopsy showed that the baby girl was born seven or eight months into her mother’s pregnancy and had breathed for a short time before dying of asphyxiation, said Dr. Ronald O’Halloran, assistant Ventura County coroner.

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 later this week whether to file charges against the young 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 members took the girl’s blood pressure and pulse, said Schumacher. 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 five to 15 minutes that the girl was in the bathroom, a nurse knocked on the door. The girl said she was all right, and the nurse went back 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 was menstruating and that she had never been pregnant or had sex.

After she was admitted for observation of leg and abdominal pain, the girl passed the placenta in her hospital room. Doctors 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.

After further questioning, the girl admitted she had given birth, Phillips said. “She thought (the baby) was dead, so she was scared and she put it in a plastic bag,” he said.

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.”

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.