woman gives birth..baby has blood alcohol conent of 0.21

[The Seeker of Good Songs]

Why are there people in the world like this?

JULY 15--A pregnant Oklahoma woman who split a case of beer with her boyfriend shortly before giving birth last month is facing felony child neglect charges. Melissa Irene Tanner, a 37-year-old mother of seven, had a blood alcohol content nearly four times the state's .08 limit, according to the below probable cause affidavit. Tanner's baby, a girl born June 30, had a BAC of .21, nearly three times the Oklahoma limit. Tanner, who first told a nurse that she was unaware of the pregnancy, was arrested and tossed into the Washington County lockup, where she is being held in lieu of $30,000 bail. Tanner, pictured at right in a booking photo, drank a case of beer a week during her pregnancy, and apparently preferred "the cheap stuff," according to the affidavit. In fact, a friend quoted by cops said that after the baby was born, she asked Tanner what the girl was going to be named. Tanner, the friend told deputies, replied, "Maybe Milwaukee's Best."

More at the link.




Birthing Under The Influence

 

[Errol Flynn]

She looks Proper Bo' Selecta!! Oh Dear...

 

[Codreanu]

What pride, Oklahomans in the news...

"I then asked Melissa (repeating to her that she had informed me that she was alcoholic), in the last year, had she ever gone a month without drinking, and Melissa stated that she had stopped drinking for the month of June of 2004."

Melissa Irene Tanner, a 37-year-old mother of seven...

"A doctor's report on the baby as of July 5 reportedly indicated that the child's features were consistent with fetal alcohol syndrome and that the child is suffering from withdrawals indicating that it is addicted to alcohol.

According to the affidavit, the child has been moved from one foster home to another due to "the incessant crying" that has accompanied the infant. Eventually, the baby was moved to a caretaker that has experience dealing with addicted infants.

Reportedly, the range or extent of physical and mental damage from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome may only be determined as the child matures, but it is permanent, according to the Center for Disease Control. The CDC lists Fetal Alcohol Syndrome as the leading preventable cause of mental retardation and physical deformity, according to the affidavit."

Amusing Freudian Lapsus Calami:

"Tanner has previous convictions in Washington County for domestic abuse, violation of a protective order, resisting arrest AND PUBIC[!]INTOXICATION."

http://www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2005/07/13/news/4516.txt

 

[Codreanu]

> Tanner, pictured at right in a booking photo, drank a
> case of beer a week during her pregnancy, and apparently preferred
> "the cheap stuff," according to the affidavit. In fact, a friend
> quoted by cops said that after the baby was born, she asked Tanner what
> the girl was going to be named. Tanner, the friend told deputies, replied,
> "Maybe Milwaukee's Best."

Ah, Milwaukee's Best -- a beer affectionately dubbed "The Beast" by students and other penurious Okies.

Oh, I can smile about it now
But at the time it was terrible...

 

[Mozzersgirl]

Re: It's times like these ...

you consider a government process of sterilisation for people who should be deemed 'unfit' to be parents. Seriously though, you wonder how you're supposed to educate people about something that should be a natural instinct.
America suffers from a strange relationship with alcohol anyway. Someone may be able to tell me, but is that just due to Prohibition leaving the country with a sort of Catholic guilt (or Puritan guilt). Just think, you can marry, have children, drive, smoke, fire a gun and join the army at age 16, or thereabouts. But you can't drink till age 21.
Is alcoholism rife in the States? Like a repressive parent, when you impose restrictions on people, they rebel to the extreme. Then again, some people are so pissed off with their lives that drinking themselves into oblivion is the only thing they've got.
That doesn't excuse messing up the lives of your children though.