The hospital of dr. Gustavo Fricke, who left mother without permission, now convicted of patricide Carlos Figueroa (Wikimedia)
Chilean justice has convicted a woman who, after leaving her daughter in a hospital in the town of Viña del Mar, in the Valparaíso region some 120 kilometers from Santiago de Chile, left the health facility without permission and left the girl in her household despite breastfeeding had used cocaine. As a result, the minor died of poisoning four days after life. The Viña del Mar Oral Criminal Court ruled unanimously, for which the woman, initialed ZMAA, was sentenced to 15 years’ effective imprisonment for finding that she was the author of patricide.
According to the judiciary, the incidents happened in January 2017. The court, consisting of three judges, considered it “without a doubt” that the girl was arrested on the morning of January 22, 2017 in the premises of the Dr. Gustavo Fricke was born in Viña del Mar. with the initials KERA, was born in normal health “with a score of 9.9 out of 10 on the Apgar test”. From birth, doctors ordered that she remain hospitalized on suspicion of drug addiction and that breastfeeding “should be postponed pending the results of various tests.” The mother received “medication to prevent this action of breastfeeding”.
A day later, however, ZMAA left the hospital with the newborn without receiving a medical discharge. He took her home, to the same town of Viña del Mar where his partner and other children lived. On January 26, 2017, the girl who was in the care of the woman died. Subsequent investigations determined the cause of death to be “multiple organ failure consistent with cocaine intoxication”. The experts found in the body of the newborn the presence of recent or acute ingestion of the drug, which according to the Chilean judiciary “was delivered by her mother” during those hours that they stayed at home. Toxicological analysis of the victim revealed “anhydroecgonine methyl ester metabolite indicative of a metabolized drug”.
Prosecutors stated at trial that the woman was addicted to cocaine. “Cocaine addiction overcame the defendant, breast-fed her baby and ultimately caused his death, in an act of intent where the outcome is presented and accepted,” the verdict reads. “She pulled out of the hospital because she knew the test would be positive and she imagined that they would take the girl away and bring her to SENAME. [el Servicio Nacional de Menores, a cargo del Estado] and that he would not get it back because all of them in his family are delinquents,” reads the text of the Viña del Mar oral criminal case, which quotes the convicted woman herself.
Prosecutor Lionel González asserted during the trial, which took place this week, that “intention requires knowing or willingness” because the mother was informed that she was not breastfeeding and was aware of the deadly and harmful consequences of breastfeeding her baby. According to prosecutors, the midwife who looked after her told her and the warning was entered in her medical record.
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