Neglect or an accident?

The Herald leads with an article today about a Mum who left her 11 month old twins alone in the bath “for a matter of minutes”. One twin got into trouble, under the guidance of 111 she attempted resuscitation… tragically the child was removed from life support five days later.

Yes, it is tragic.  Any situation where a child dies is tragic… but was it preventable?  And, is it neglect?

This Mum left her 11 month old babies alone in a bath for “minutes”, not even seconds (not that I could easily justify that either).  Is there a difference between seconds and minutes when you’re talking about 11 month olds?  seconds = accident?  minutes = stupidity?  Personally, I think 11 months is just too young to be left alone.

At the risk of sounding ‘holier than thou’ I never, ever left my children alone in the bath at 11 months.  Even with post natal depression, sleep deprivation (due to sick children), and a lot of sole charge (thanks to husband that travels), I never left them alone in the bath.

I wonder who will excuse her behaviour with ‘but she was only young’ or ‘she had poor parenting skills’ or ‘she had PND’ or something similar

These weren’t children… they were babies.  You can’t call out to them and say “you ok?”, they can’t answer.

So, is this neglect?  Should this woman be charged with an offence?  Neglect? manslaughter?

Yes, the Mum will be in a great deal of emotional anguish and pain.

Recently, a woman was charged with murder for a similar situation however in that case she refused to provide any sort of assistance to the child, and the child was left alone in the bath for fifteen plus minutes.

So, is the recent case just a tragic accident?  For me, there is certainly an element of “but there for the grace of God go I”.

How about parents who run over their kids in the drive way?  Or, how about when a parent and child choose to cross the road at a point not the crossing, and the child gets hit by a car?  Or incorrect car seat usage? Should they be charged?

I would argue that this bath case is pure and simple: she is responsible, she left those babies alone, one died.  This is a tragedy for the child, for her twin NOT for the Mum.  May be that makes me cold and heartless?  I feel for the Mum because she caused her child’s death… but she is still responsible.