OXNARD : Charges Pending in Baby’s Death
Authorities won’t determine until the end of next week whether to file charges against a 15-year-old mother whose prematurely born baby was found dead in a hospital trash can last month.
Deputy Dist. Atty. Saundra Brewer said Tuesday a decision cannot be made until after Aug. 8, when an official with the county coroner’s office returns from vacation. A decision was to have been made last week.
The body of the newborn baby girl was found June 26 in a plastic bag at the bottom of a trash can in a restroom at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard.
The unidentified mother had given birth to the 3-pound, 9-ounce baby the day before in the restroom. A custodian found the body.
The girl told police that she believed the infant was dead. She became frightened and left the baby in the trash can. The baby, born in the seventh or eighth month of pregnancy, died of asphyxiation and might have survived if she had received medical attention, police said.
The mother was being treated for leg pain at the hospital when she excused herself to go to the bathroom where she gave birth, police said.
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