rfgdxm/Robert F. Golaszewski
09-21-2007, 10:07 PM
Strange but true. Higher than recommended dosages of
anticholinergics kill babies too.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030816/NEWS/308160346/1021
Published Saturday, August 16, 2003
Baby Sitter Sentenced to 8 Years for Infant's Death
By Jeff Scullin
The Ledger
BARTOW -- Paula Burcham had a last chance to undo what she'd done and
maybe save Grace Fields' life, but she didn't take it. Now, she'll have
eight years in prison to think about it.
As paramedics on Dec. 18, 2001, worked to save the 3-month-old girl, who
the Lakeland baby sitter was watching, Burcham didn't tell them she'd
mixed three teaspoons of Benadryl, an over-the-counter cough
suppressant, into the infant's breast milk.
Polk County Medical Examiner Stephen Nelson, who testified at Burcham's
sentencing Friday, told Circuit Judge Dick Prince it's questionable
whether knowing that critical piece of information would have allowed
emergency workers to keep Grace alive.
But Burcham's decision robbed Grace of the chance to survive, said
Prince, who sentenced the 53-year-old woman to eight years in prison
followed by seven years' probation.
It was the maximum penalty possible under the terms of a plea agreement
she struck with prosecutors in May.
"That child was given no chance," said Prince, as sobs rippled through a
packed courtroom, his own voice choked with emotion. "I don't know
whether it would have saved the child. I don't know . . . whether anyone
can say."
Burcham spoke only briefly on her own behalf, saying "I just want to say
I am very sorry."
The youngest of the four Fields children who Burcham watched over the
years, Grace Olivia Fields died Dec. 18, 2001, after the caregiver
poured bubble-gum flavored Benadryl into a bottle of breast milk she
gave the infant.
The Fieldses initially thought their daughter died from sudden infant
death syndrome. But the Polk County medical examiner determined she had
died from intoxication by diphenhydramine, the generic name for an
antihistamine and sedative used as a cough suppressant, a sleeping aid
and in other medicines.
Though a roomful of friends and family members on hand to support
Burcham and Tracy Fields, Grace's mother, lobbied Prince for several
hours Friday, the judge said what most influenced his decision was an
emergency room report relating efforts to save the infant.
According to the report, paramedics and an emergency room doctor found a
pulse in Grace.
Given that and testimony about an antidote that could have been
administered, the judge called Burcham's decision to withhold
information that could have saved Grace's life "absolutely intolerable."
According to the terms of the deal Burcham made May 21, in which she
pleaded no contest to manslaughter, Prince also forbade her from taking
care of or being alone with children outside her family. The plea deal
capped Burcham's cumulative punishment at 15 years.
Fields, who had worked for more than a year to see Burcham punished for
her daughter's death, said seeing the former caregiver, who she said had
been like part of her family, sentenced left her with mixed feelings.
"I fought so hard to seek justice for Grace and, in the end, all I want
is to have my baby back and it's not going to happen," she said after
Friday's sentencing. "A million emotions ran through my mind. At one
point I even felt sorry for her. But, on the other hand, I was so angry
at her that I thought she deserved life in prison."
Although she initially dismissed the toxicology reports that suggested
Grace's death had not been natural, Fields -- a neonatal nurse at Winter
Haven Hospital -- told Prince she now thinks Burcham had been drugging
children in her day care for years.
"She was using over-the-counter medication to sedate kids," she said.
"It certainly doesn't sound like the thing a good person would do . . .
sedating kids to keep them under control.
"She gave Grace Benadryl to make her sleep, plain and simple. This, to
me, was murder. How could this person watch my baby die and not try to
save her?"
But Burcham's lawyer, David Carmichael, said no evidence existed to
support Fields' claim that Burcham had been sedating children.
In sworn statements, Burcham had previously said Fields told her Grace
was sick and that Burcham gave her Benadryl because the infant wasn't
feeling well the day she died -her first full day in Burcham's care.
Fields denies that Grace was sick.
Carmichael told Prince that Burcham never meant to harm Grace and didn't
tell paramedics she had given the infant Benadryl because she was
overwhelmed.
"She was so emotionally upset that she did not articulate critical
factors," he said.
For several months, Burcham lived in denial about Grace's death,
Carmichael said.
Her guilt came crashing down on Feb. 13, when she tried to kill herself.
The attempted suicide came one week after a detective from the Lakeland
Police Department told her that a toxicology investigation had
discovered that Grace had diphenhydramine in her system when she died.
Friday, Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo read from a enlarged
version of the suicide note found in Burcham's purse that he said showed
she was still trying to cover up what she had done, even as she was
preparing to kill herself.
"I didn't and I couldn't have ever hurt such a sweet baby," he read.
"But I'm afraid my putting her on her stomach may have killed her, and
if I did I can't live with it anyway."
In asking Prince not to send Burcham to prison, one of her longtime
friends, Barbara Keplinger, told the judge no sentence could be more
severe than the one she has been living under since Grace's death.
"Paula's sentence is life, no matter what happens here," Keplinger said.
"Because no one can punish her more" than she is punishing herself.
Contact Jeff Scullin at jeff.scullin@theledger.com or 863-533-9079.
anticholinergics kill babies too.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030816/NEWS/308160346/1021
Published Saturday, August 16, 2003
Baby Sitter Sentenced to 8 Years for Infant's Death
By Jeff Scullin
The Ledger
BARTOW -- Paula Burcham had a last chance to undo what she'd done and
maybe save Grace Fields' life, but she didn't take it. Now, she'll have
eight years in prison to think about it.
As paramedics on Dec. 18, 2001, worked to save the 3-month-old girl, who
the Lakeland baby sitter was watching, Burcham didn't tell them she'd
mixed three teaspoons of Benadryl, an over-the-counter cough
suppressant, into the infant's breast milk.
Polk County Medical Examiner Stephen Nelson, who testified at Burcham's
sentencing Friday, told Circuit Judge Dick Prince it's questionable
whether knowing that critical piece of information would have allowed
emergency workers to keep Grace alive.
But Burcham's decision robbed Grace of the chance to survive, said
Prince, who sentenced the 53-year-old woman to eight years in prison
followed by seven years' probation.
It was the maximum penalty possible under the terms of a plea agreement
she struck with prosecutors in May.
"That child was given no chance," said Prince, as sobs rippled through a
packed courtroom, his own voice choked with emotion. "I don't know
whether it would have saved the child. I don't know . . . whether anyone
can say."
Burcham spoke only briefly on her own behalf, saying "I just want to say
I am very sorry."
The youngest of the four Fields children who Burcham watched over the
years, Grace Olivia Fields died Dec. 18, 2001, after the caregiver
poured bubble-gum flavored Benadryl into a bottle of breast milk she
gave the infant.
The Fieldses initially thought their daughter died from sudden infant
death syndrome. But the Polk County medical examiner determined she had
died from intoxication by diphenhydramine, the generic name for an
antihistamine and sedative used as a cough suppressant, a sleeping aid
and in other medicines.
Though a roomful of friends and family members on hand to support
Burcham and Tracy Fields, Grace's mother, lobbied Prince for several
hours Friday, the judge said what most influenced his decision was an
emergency room report relating efforts to save the infant.
According to the report, paramedics and an emergency room doctor found a
pulse in Grace.
Given that and testimony about an antidote that could have been
administered, the judge called Burcham's decision to withhold
information that could have saved Grace's life "absolutely intolerable."
According to the terms of the deal Burcham made May 21, in which she
pleaded no contest to manslaughter, Prince also forbade her from taking
care of or being alone with children outside her family. The plea deal
capped Burcham's cumulative punishment at 15 years.
Fields, who had worked for more than a year to see Burcham punished for
her daughter's death, said seeing the former caregiver, who she said had
been like part of her family, sentenced left her with mixed feelings.
"I fought so hard to seek justice for Grace and, in the end, all I want
is to have my baby back and it's not going to happen," she said after
Friday's sentencing. "A million emotions ran through my mind. At one
point I even felt sorry for her. But, on the other hand, I was so angry
at her that I thought she deserved life in prison."
Although she initially dismissed the toxicology reports that suggested
Grace's death had not been natural, Fields -- a neonatal nurse at Winter
Haven Hospital -- told Prince she now thinks Burcham had been drugging
children in her day care for years.
"She was using over-the-counter medication to sedate kids," she said.
"It certainly doesn't sound like the thing a good person would do . . .
sedating kids to keep them under control.
"She gave Grace Benadryl to make her sleep, plain and simple. This, to
me, was murder. How could this person watch my baby die and not try to
save her?"
But Burcham's lawyer, David Carmichael, said no evidence existed to
support Fields' claim that Burcham had been sedating children.
In sworn statements, Burcham had previously said Fields told her Grace
was sick and that Burcham gave her Benadryl because the infant wasn't
feeling well the day she died -her first full day in Burcham's care.
Fields denies that Grace was sick.
Carmichael told Prince that Burcham never meant to harm Grace and didn't
tell paramedics she had given the infant Benadryl because she was
overwhelmed.
"She was so emotionally upset that she did not articulate critical
factors," he said.
For several months, Burcham lived in denial about Grace's death,
Carmichael said.
Her guilt came crashing down on Feb. 13, when she tried to kill herself.
The attempted suicide came one week after a detective from the Lakeland
Police Department told her that a toxicology investigation had
discovered that Grace had diphenhydramine in her system when she died.
Friday, Assistant State Attorney Cass Castillo read from a enlarged
version of the suicide note found in Burcham's purse that he said showed
she was still trying to cover up what she had done, even as she was
preparing to kill herself.
"I didn't and I couldn't have ever hurt such a sweet baby," he read.
"But I'm afraid my putting her on her stomach may have killed her, and
if I did I can't live with it anyway."
In asking Prince not to send Burcham to prison, one of her longtime
friends, Barbara Keplinger, told the judge no sentence could be more
severe than the one she has been living under since Grace's death.
"Paula's sentence is life, no matter what happens here," Keplinger said.
"Because no one can punish her more" than she is punishing herself.
Contact Jeff Scullin at jeff.scullin@theledger.com or 863-533-9079.