Couple too intoxicated to notice baby dying

[Bunny]

UNIONTOWN, Pa. -- A Fayette County couple has pleaded no contest to child endangerment charges because state police say they were too drunk and high to notice their 2-month-old daughter dying of sudden infant death syndrome.

Thirty-one-year-olds Jennifer Gaster and Daniel Martin II, of Brownsville, were accused of snorting cocaine and drinking the night before they found the baby dead. That happened June 6 about 10 a.m. in their home in Luzerne Township, about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh.

The couple's defense attorney has said Ms. Gaster wasn't intoxicated, but Fayette County District Attorney Jack Heneks on Monday said Ms. Gaster told a 911 dispatcher, "I was so (expletive) drunk last night."

The couple will be sentenced Dec. 20 for child endangerment and reckless endangerment.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10278/1092779-455.stm?cmpid=news.xml#ixzz11V021jLa

I thought that SIDS deaths usually occurred when the child has been put down for a nap, and there are no signs that anything is wrong until the parent finds the baby dead in their crib. I'm the last person to support dirtball parents, but is it fair to punish these two for not noticing something that other parents of SIDS babies don't notice either?

[Brickbat]

1. This story is bizarre to me. What about the sober parents who didn't notice their kids dying of

SIDS?

[mikelgb]

2. Requiem for a Dream

[WeekendWarrior]

3. They must have been smoking POT!!!!

:sarcasm:

[stuntcat]

16. yes, the cursed DEVIL-WEED

also I bet if it was only alcohol involved then this wouldn't even make the news.

[Bunny]

17. I think the article mentions alcohol and cocaine.

Not that I think it matters, as least as far as a SIDS death goes. You don't have to be drunk or high on anything to lose a child to SIDS.

[Romulox]

4. Without a causal connection between the intoxication and the death, where is the case?

"Your baby died, AND you're a bad person because you were drunk" is not a winnable criminal case. The prosecutor will have to prove how the child died, and, further, how the intoxication contributed to that death. With SIDs, this would seem daunting.

[TexasObserver]

9. Agreed. No causal connection at all.

SIDS kills many babies, and the drunkenness of the parents was not a factor.

This is just more meanness by cops and prosecutors, untethered from reason.

[Warpy]

5. The autopsy might show something different

but these jerks are being pilloried for being drunk, something most parents are guilty of at some point. This is patently unfair.

And no, they wouldn't have noticed anything if it's a SIDS death.

My guess is that SIDS is a provisional COD until a full autopsy is done.

If the COD is something else, then they're probably guilty of neglect or worse. If it's SIDS, there's no way this should stick.

(Yes, we'd all prefer children be raised by teetotaling, perfect parents, but that exists only in TV sitcoms. This is the real world and sometimes parents need to send their brains on vacation.)

[pipi_k]

6. The very first paragraph is absolute bullshit

they didn't notice the baby "dying of sudden infant death syndrome".


It doesn't happen like that.

One minute the baby is fine. The next minute the baby stops breathing.


No sound. Nothing.

Trust me.

My 3 month old daughter slept in a bassinet right next to my bed. She died sometime during the early morning hours of Feb 17, 1974 and I never heard a thing.


They don't even want to suggest that there is anything a parent can do to stop it, besides having a breathing monitor on the baby till it's over 12 months old.

[TwilightGardener]

7. Sorry about your daughter, Pipi--how awful. I agree, who the hell notices

when someone stops breathing? That's the entire reason why SIDS exists as a problem--even the most paranoid, vigilant parents have to sleep, or eat, or go to the bathroom. I am guessing we don't know the full story yet, because blaming this on drugs/alcohol doesn't make sense as written.

[renate]

8. I'm so so so sorry

I wish I could give you a million of these: :hug:

[pipi_k]

13. thank you both....you know the awful thing about this

happening to parents...after the event itself...is the blame we parents put upon ourselves.

I've tortured myself over and over for many years because of what I thought I might have done wrong.


So those parents, even though they were incapacitated at the time...it wouldn't have mattered if they were stone cold sober holding the baby in their arms. I hope the media and the legal system leave them alone on that count.

[seabeyond]

14. +1 to your posts pipi. i, too, am so sorry. and i was on the other side of obsession

fear i would have had comfort with a breathing monitor. only the fact it is ridiculous made me not.

i hated that young age, knowing anything could happen, and i would not know.

i had one a month early, and he had breating issues. was so hard.

[pipi_k]

20. I'm so sorry....

It does seem like prematurity might at least play a partial factor in it.

My daughter was 6 weeks early...

[Bunny]

12. I am so sorry for you loss.

That must have been awful. :hug:

[pipi_k]

21. Thank you...

yes, it was, and I was so young myself. Only 22. A mere child compared to where I am now.

[EC]

10. This is not right...

Plenty of SIDS deaths happen with fully alert parents in the next room...the judge is moralizing...they had bad representation who should not have been trying to prove they weren't intoxicated or high, but should have been showing cases of sober people having the same tradgedy...bad all around...


How many parents put their babys down for the night and then proceed to have some wine or drinks or whatever while watching TV or eating a formal meal or to relax before bed? Jeez...

[JVS]

11. Being drunk and high is not a causative factor in not noticing SIDS.

Even the sober don't notice SIDS, that's why it's called SIDS.

[Arkana]

19. Agreed. My little brother was 3 months old and one night he just

stopped breathing. The doctor pronounced the CoD as SIDS. My parents weren't stoned or drunk and they didn't notice either--should they be prosecuted for being bad parents?

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. If it was SIDS, then it wouldn't matter if they were intoxicated or not

What kind of bullshit story is this?

Fucking horrible journalism.

[bullwinkle428]

18. Sounds like the bastard D.A. has political ambitions as a Repuke!

:mad: