An Indiana mother is facing neglect charges after her two-month-old baby died from methamphetamine-tainted breast milk.
The mother, Ashlee R. Rans, 36, originally called authorities to report that she had rolled on top of her baby while asleep. However, an autopsy later revealed the baby died from being poisoned, specifically from “acute methamphetamine intoxication,” according to local media. The Marshall County coroner’s office has determined the baby’s death a homicide.
“No matter what level of drug is present, it would cause deadly results,” said Dr. Thomas J. Scozio, the doctor who performed the autopsy on the infant.
The mother was charged with two counts of “neglect of a dependent resulting in death,” with each charge carrying up to 40 years in prison. Marshall County prosecutor E. Nelson Chipman Jr. said the incident could be “construed as a direct affront to one of the most fundamental experiences of human existence.”
“A mother’s breast milk has been revered as a source of life sustaining nourishment for the most vulnerable among us — a new born child,” Chipman told local media. “What a mother ingests can be transmitted to an infant through breast feeding with potentially tragic, and entirely preventable, results.”
