Postpartum depression or not, what a sick thing to do. Hopefully she's not in her right mind; if she is, then that's even more horrible. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=533&e=4&u=/ap/20041123/ap_on_re_us/baby_death Woman Charged With Killing Baby in Texas 27 minutes ago U.S. National - AP By LISA FALKENBERG, Associated Press Writer PLANO, Texas - A woman with a history of postpartum depression told a 911 operator she had cut off the arms of her baby daughter, then waited calmly until police arrived, authorities said. Authorities found Dena Schlosser, 35, and the fatally injured baby on Monday after the child's father called a day-care center and asked them to check on his wife and daughter in the Dallas suburb of Plano. Day-care workers called 911 after talking with Schlosser, and a 911 operator then phoned the mother. The operator asked Schlosser if there was an emergency, according to 911 tapes released by police. Schlosser calmly responded: "Yes." "Exactly what happened?" the 911 operator asked. "I cut her arms off," Schlosser replied, as the hymn "He Touched Me" played in the background. Child-protection authorities said the mother had shown signs of postpartum depression in the past, but there had been no signs of violence. Authorities said when they arrived at the family's apartment, they found the nearly 11-month-old baby in a bedroom with her arms severed. Schlosser, covered in blood, was sitting in her living room. The child died at a hospital. It was not immediately clear what instrument was used to sever the baby's arms or why the baby's father asked the day-care center employees to check on his family. Schlosser lived at the apartment with other family members, including her two older daughters. The girls, ages 6 and 9, were at school and their father was at work when police arrived, Duke said. Texas Child Protective Services was called to the home in January after Schlosser was seen running down the street from her apartment, with one of her daughters, then 5, bicycling after her, authorities said. When police and CPS arrived, the child told them her mother had left her 6-day-old baby sister alone in the apartment. Schlosser appeared at the time to be suffering from postpartum depression and seemed to be having a psychotic episode, said Marissa Gonzales, a CPS spokeswoman. Schlosser was hospitalized for a few days. Her other two daughters were released to their father, who told authorities Schlosser had been acting strangely since the birth of the third child. Once she was released from the hospital, Schlosser agreed to seek counseling and see a psychiatrist, Gonzales said. Caseworkers continued to visit the family through the spring and summer, and the case was closed Aug. 9. "There were never any indications of violence with this family," Gonzales said. "The children had always been healthy, happy and cared for." Gonzales said CPS was interviewing Schlosser's other children and would talk to the father before deciding whether to remove the children from the home. No one answered the door Monday night at the family's apartment. Neighbors said she seemed to be a loving, attentive mother. Dena Livingston, 43, said she saw Schlosser making her rounds with the stroller on Sunday. She saw her Friday waiting with her baby outside the school the older girls attend. "She didn't give off like she was in a distant world or didn't care about the baby," Livingston said.
I had absolutely no idea that postpartum depression could lead to anything this horrible. Why on earth would her family leave her alone with a newborh baby when she's shown a history of postpartum??? That's just as hard for me to accept as the act itself.
Oh man, literally the moment I clicked on this thread, they played the 911 tape on the news. She sounded completely calm. What a sick f***.
This story is beyond repulsive. I didn't think anything would make me sicker then the Yates story. My second reaction after pure nausea, save the taxpayers some dough and put a bullet in her head.
My mom has dealt with some clients suffering from post-pardem depression. She told me once that some have imbalances so severe they have to be hospitalized for days at a time to keep them from harming themselves. Apparently, it involves more than just mental depression. There is a serious hormonal imbalance that can cause a complete shift in brain chemistry. It has even been referred to as post-pardem psychosis by physicians because it can enduce hallicinations, dimentia and hysteria. Now, if she just did this and was in her right mind, that's a different story. But, if she was in a serious state of phychosis, she could have just as easily killed herself or someone else without medical treatment.
Postpartum depression/psychosis is a big deal. I read a statistic saying that, of all murders involving a newborn, 9 times out of 10 the mother is the killer. There have been rare cases where postpartum psychosis has become permanent. I have a friend who suffered personally from this. It's ugly stuff. Unfortunately, poorer families without insurance and those who are not informed of the possibility of postpartum complications are often uninformed of the degree to which it can overtake a person's normal functioning.
Two wrongs make a right, eh? Postpartum depresion, psychosis, bla blah blah... whatever excuse we can find to show it's not their fault... blah blah... "Oh, she didn't really do it..." bologna with queso.
This is terrible, but I can't believe you guys think this women did this because she wanted to. I mean, what's her motive, evil? This lady just mutilated her child, if she hasn't truamatized herself already, she probably will after she gets some kind of treatment and fully realizes what she did.
It's not an excuse, it's an explanation. Unless you have a better reason for a woman cutting her newborn child's arms off.
It sounds like you've never had anyone close to you in a similar depression-like state. If so...you'd have a bit more empathy towards this lady and the fact that she might have suffered from it. PPD is a serious illness...my wife suffered from it, albeit minorly. I tried to get friends and coworkers to make regular visits to the house after the baby was born, but it seemed like nothing would cheer her up. She kept telling me she didn't know why she felt bad...she just did. I truly believe that hormones, coupled with the let down of post pregnancy expectations are the major cause. And every single case is different. There's no way of knowing ahead of time that you will be affected and when it's happening, it is apparently very difficult to pull out of. All of my sympathies go out to the family...and if this lady was truly suffering, my heart goes out to her. One day, when she gets better, she will absolutely regret what she did.
Even if I had anyone in my family or CLOSE to ME in a similar depression-like state, it's a COP OUT. You need to get HAPPY. Else, don't have children... children having children is a BAD thing... anyone can make up a disease and use it as an excuse... Yes, sympathies go out to the family... but why do you say "if this lady was truly suffering" ? So you agree with me?
I doubt this phenomenon is "made up"; it's happened too often, and the character of the woman seems to completely change. I hope some medical lab, somewhere, is working on shedding more light on this, in order to figure out the exact hormonal imbalance and come up with a treatment. Shades of Andrea Yates... (whom I still feel bad for, though maybe I shouldn't; I don't think she was anywhere near her right mind at that point) Which brings this up: why are women who show these symptoms being left alone with children? These are horrible things that happen... again, in this case, hopefully it's the "demons" talking but regardless, it did happen. The families of these women (husbands in particular, I'm talking to you) need to keep an eye out and realize that, as inconvenient as it may be, sometimes the wife is not capable of taking care of the house and kids on her own and needs to be taken care of herself first. We'll have to wait for more facts to come out about this case... just thinking of Andrea Yates and that jerk of a husband...
Can we get warnings or something stating that this could really be disturbing? This kind of stuff makes me really really sick. I never want to know about crap like this. Absolutely disgusting. I wish I could go back and not have read this.
