The press here is talking about this trial as a test of Religion
vs the Law. I think it's a little more than that. What do you think?
May 11, 2005
Doctor: Infant's death was preventable
Witness in parents' trial says newborn girl likely would have lived had they sought care.
By Paul Bird
[email protected]
FRANKLIN, Ind. -- A newborn girl suffering from sepsis probably would have lived had she received medical treatment, a doctor testified Tuesday at the trial of her parents, who told authorities they relied on prayer to try to heal their baby.
Dr. Niceta C. Bradburn, a St. Vincent Hospital neonatologist, a specialist in ill infants, testified in Johnson Superior Court that Rhianna Schmidt could have been saved had she been treated up to four or five hours before her death.
Instead, the baby died when she was 2 days old. Maleta Schmidt, 30, and her husband, Dewayne Schmidt, 36, are charged with reckless homicide in the death of Rhianna on Aug. 19, 2003.
Testimony in their trial began Tuesday. Johnson County deputy prosecutors Daylon Welliver and Matt Solomon called five witnesses before resting their case.
The defense is expected to begin its case today. One or both of the Schmidts could testify.
Carrie Miles, the Schmidts' attorney, asked Bradburn whether lay people would have recognized the baby's sepsis symptoms. "Yes," Bradburn said.
In 17 years, Bradburn estimated she has seen 300 to 400 babies with the bloodstream infection, with 60 percent of them otherwise healthy. "I can't remember the last time a full-term baby died," she said.
Rhianna was born Aug. 17, 2003. An out-of-state relative assisted with the birth.
Johnson County Coroner David Lutz testified that the family told him Rhianna had a difficult birth and immediately developed a respiratory problem.
Lutz and Johnson County sheriff's investigators Sgt. Terry Nichalson and Lt. Mike McElwain testified that the Schmidts told them they had relied on the prayers of the elders of their church, General Assembly and Church of the First Born in Morgantown, to heal their daughter.
The investigators testified Dewayne Schmidt told them the elders were summoned after Rhianna's condition worsened.
Rhianna's respiratory problems recurred about 2 p.m. and 8 or 9 p.m. on Aug. 18.
The Schmidts said Rhianna improved with the prayers, Lutz said. But she died less than four hours later, and police were called.
Nichalson said several people were at the home when he arrived. Absent, he said, was an outpouring of grief. Instead, he saw a calm scene in the bedroom, where Maleta Schmidt was in bed, holding a swaddled, dead child. He has described the scene as "surreal."
None of the officials entered the investigation thinking any crime had been committed. Instead, they testified, they thought the child had died of natural causes.
But Indiana University pathologist Dr. Dean Hawley found the child died of sepsis from bacteria contracted during birth.
In 25 years of performing autopsies, Hawley said, he had seen only one other sepsis death of a baby. That was in 1980. In that case, the mother also died.
Hawley said Rhianna had no physical injuries.
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