Texas Flood There is a storm a'comin', and it threatens to become a proper Texas flood. The allegations against Wichita County, Texas are soul-freezing, the kind of thing you start hoping is just some screwed up hoax because the reality is so perverse. Then again, the allegations in Texas are not the first time we've heard this sort of thing. Tara Culp-Ressler for ThinkProgress: A Texas woman claims she was forced to give birth in solitary confinement while she was being imprisoned for a drug violation, and the lack of adequate medical care she received resulted in her baby’s death. Now, two years later, she’s filing a federal lawsuit against Wichita County for medical malpractice .... .... According to the lawsuit, Guerrero — who was arrested on a drug possession charge — was about 32 weeks pregnant when she entered the Wichita County Jail. Two weeks later, she began experiencing contractions. But Guerrero claims that a detention officer simply sent her back to her cell. As Guerrero’s symptoms worsened, she says she repeatedly pushed the “medical emergency” button and was ignored for more than three hours. Then, she was taken to solitary confinement. “Subsequently, detention officers escorted Plaintiff to the ‘cage’ and she was given a mat to lay on. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiff’s pain worsened, and she began to experience intense pressure ... in obvious distress, began to moan, scream and cry,” the suit claims. “She also attempted to talk herself through this ordeal, since she was not receiving any medical assistance.” The lawsuit alleges that one of the jail’s detention officers, Ladonna Anderson, ignored Guerrero’s screams as she began to deliver her baby. It wasn’t until the baby’s head had already emerged that Anderson came in to help. The umbilical cord was wrapped around Guerrero’s baby’s neck, and she claims that Anderson didn’t make any attempt to perform CPR. Guerrero and her newborn were finally transported to the hospital, where the baby was pronounced dead. A CNN report notes: After visiting her doctor for an infection on June 11, while still in custody, Guerrero says her doctor told her she was 8½ months pregnant. According to the legal complaint, once Guerrero was returned to jail she experienced severe pain and cramping. She said she was checked out by the nurse on duty, identified in court documents as Anderson, late on the night of June 11. Anderson determined at that time Guerrero was not in labor, according to the legal documents. It should be noted that Ms. Anderson, a registered nurse, was practicing without appropriate credentials. Furthermore, CNN notes, after the stillbirth, Guerrero was left in the solitary cell without further medical attention. While we might make the inevitable sick joke about the fact that this is Texas, after all, that doesn't really work this time. In 2006, Julie Ehrlich and Lynn Paltrow reported: A 2005 Maryland case belies any claim that arresting pregnant women protects fetuses, children or families. Kari Parsons was imprisoned specifically to protect the health of her fetus. She was arrested when she was seven months pregnant because a drug test mandated as part of her probation for shoplifting returned a positive result. Though standard practice is to release people arrested for probation violations on their own recognizance until their later court dates, the judge in Parsons' case sent her to jail, citing his interest in protecting the fetus's health. Yet three weeks later, because of the judge's ostensible concern for the fetus, Parsons' son was born in conditions that put both his and his mother's health and life at risk. Parsons gave birth to her son alone in a dirty Maryland jail cell furnished only with a toilet and a bed with no sheets. She had been in labor for several hours and had countless times pleaded for help and medical attention. The requests were denied. The Jennifer Road Detention Center, where she was incarcerated, repeatedly ignored her cries that she was well into labor and needed to go to the hospital. Other inmates, hearing Parsons' cries, implored guards to take her to the hospital. Instead, guards took her out of a holding area with other inmates--who had helped to time her contractions--and put her in a cell by herself. A few hours later, Parsons gave birth completely alone, without health care or support of any kind. According to press reports, although completely healthy when he was born, Parsons' son soon developed an infection due to the unsanitary conditions of his birth. Only last week, a woman gave birth in a Harris County, Texas, jail cell. Another inmate who witnessed the birth told local television news reporters that despite the pregnant woman's pleas for medical attention, guards refused to help her. She gave birth in a jail cell without medical assistance. Ms. Parsons was reportedly in labor over the course of multiple days. While the state of Texas is perfectly willing to arrest and charge women for fetal endangerment, there is no record that anyone at the Wichita County Jail has been charged in the death of Myrah Arianna Guerrero, who was still apparently alive in fetal form only hours before. Neither is there yet any evidence that a criminal investigation was conducted to determine whether the actions of LaDonna Anderson, illegally practicing as a nurse, or her employer, Correctional Healthcare Management, Inc., violated any laws. If such an investigation did occur, we will likely find out as the civil process goes forward. The case is Guerrero v. Wichita County, Texas et al. ____________________ Notes: Culp-Ressler, Tara. "Woman Says Her Baby Died After She Was Forced To Give Birth In Solitary Confinement". ThinkProgress. May 28, 2014. ThinkProgress.org. May 29, 2014. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/05/28/3442047/woman-solitary-confinement-birth/ Lin Erdman, Shelby and Carma Hassan. "Texas woman claims she gave birth alone in jail, baby died". CNN. May 24, 2014. CNN.com. May 29, 2014. http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/23/us/texas-jail-baby-death/ Ehrlich, Julie B. and Lynn Paltrow. "Jailing Pregnant Women Raises Health Risks". WeNews. September 20, 2006. WomensENews.org. May 29, 2014. http://womensenews.org/story/health/060920/jailing-pregnant-women-raises-health-risks Beiser, Vince. "Fetal Abuse". Mother Jones. June 14, 2000. MotherJones.com. May 29, 2014. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2000/06/fetal-abuse Bunch, Rickey. "Complaint". Guerrero v. Wichita County, Texas et al. United States District Court Northern District of Texas Wichita Falls Division. May 21, 2014. Amazon Web Services. May 29, 2014. https://s3.amazonaws.com/uploads.hi...s9QiiwJU/Nicole Guerrero v Wichita County.pdf
As horrific as this story is, as you pointed out, she isn't the only one who has had to experience the horror of being forced to give birth in solitary confinement in such unsanitary and unsafe conditions. Some prisons still shackle women during labour, even though it is illegal. You also have to remember that for many of these people, the 'baby' is only worthwhile while it is inside the mother. Once it's on the way out, it is just a burden on society and they don't want to have to pay for it. They won't be charged for it.
All Well and Fine Until Somebody Dies Aye, but this time they have a death to answer for. You know how it goes; it's all well and fine until somebody dies. There are so many issues about our societal attitudes wrapped up in this one that, to the one we have to wait to see which percolate, while to the other it will be a slow exhibition of American Grand Guignol. Though the incident apparently went two years without causing much reaction, the suit filed on May 21 has the potential to bring this to the fore. I couldn't tell you which MSNBC host is going to hit it first (MHP? Rev. Al? Rachel?) but at some point in the, this story is going to erupt in liberal-sympathetic press. If this comes to trial, we can expect coverage from MSNBC, HuffPo, TNR, NY Mag, WaPo, and possibly even NYT. The liberal blogosphere will explode. There will be a hashtag campaign. All of it. And the punditry wars will be brutal in addition to likely missing the point. To the one, it will be ugly. To the other, it can't be ugly enough. Whether we want to make it about women, fetuses and babies, prisons, or merely the question of just how big a Texas-sized fuckup can be, there really is no justice sufficient for this one.
