Death by mother or Mother Nature: how did 2 Australian women both lose all 4 of their children?
Mar 18, 2019 17:00:28 GMT
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Post by hi224 on Mar 18, 2019 17:00:28 GMT
Kathleen Folbigg first gave birth 1st February 1989 to her son Caleb. He was known to breathe noisily however it was a condition he was expected to grow out of. On February 20th, just a few weeks after his birth, he was placed to sleep in his cot. During the night he stirred, until Kathleen discovered him dead - his death was attributed to cot death.
3rd of June 1990, she gives birth to another son Patrick. On the 18th of October, Kathleen’s husband Craig is awoken by screams - the child wasn’t breathing. CPR was commenced and paramedics arrived, taking him to hospital. He survived.. until February 18th 1991 when Kathleen called her husband at work to report his death saying, “it’s happened again!”
Following this loss, they move houses. Kathleen gives birth to Sarah on 14th October 1992. She dies on the 29th of August 1993.
7th of August 1997, Laura was born. She died on 27th of February 1999.
These deaths at the time were all attributed as cot deaths, until further investigation began. Various experts began weighing in with significant evidence Source 1 Source 2.
Now although I’ve researched this case I haven’t done so extensively and am not well versed in all sides of the argument (there’s a lot of evidence to trawl through). What I did discover though were the following facts:
British paediatrician, Professor Sir Roy Meadow who promoted himself as a child abuse expert states his hypothesis that: in multiple unexplained cot deaths in the same family: one (infant) death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder. - various experts all agreed with this opinion — apparently Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is unlikely to occur more than once unless there is a genetic condition present. Edit: Thanks to commenters I have been told that this doctor has been struck off and is a bit of a fraud. This doesn’t detract from the fact many other pathologists and doctors ruled these deaths as suspicious however..
Laura had myocarditis at the time of death. There was also no physical evidence linking Kathleen to their deaths. All the other deaths were by “undetermined causes”.
Kathleen’s husband Craig ended up joining the prosecutions case after discovering her diaries. Entires such as "I feel like the worst mother on this Earth. Scared she'll leave me now like Sarah did. I knew I was short-tempered and cruel sometimes to her, and she left. With a bit of help." were used by the prosecution to secure her with charges of murder.
Kathleen was sentenced to 40 years for the murders of her 4 children. Reduced to 30 on appeal. She is currently looking a judicial inquiry in to her case to prove that multiple children can all die of unidentified natural causes.
——————————.
Case Number 2: Carol Matthey Good article here.
The first died on the 8th of December in 1998. Jacob Matthey was two months old, and at the time the Coroner found he had died from sudden infant death syndrome. He was found dead in his cot.
Two years later, 4-month-old Chloe Matthey was found dead in her cot, and again the Coroner found the death was consistent with sudden infant death syndrome.
In July 2002, 3-month-old Joshua Matthey died, and the Coroner's report states that death occurred from a rare infection.
Three-year-old Shania Matthey died in April 2003. She allegedly fell off a table, stopped breathing, started breathing again but died later that night in her cot.
Some of the same medical experts who testified in the Kathleen Folbigg case. This time there was disagreement from forensics pathologists about whether there were signs of foul play.
Some facts about the case:
One month before Jacob’s death, paramedics were called as he was having significant trouble breathing. The paediatric neurologist who treated him stated he had suffered a “sudden insult to the brain” which can be caused by a number of things including seizures from being deprived from oxygen. Further investigation revealed he had a high white blood cell count but no infection. Following his death just a few weeks later, an American paediatric forensic pathologist who was flown to Australia for the investigation stated “Jacob's "apparent life-threatening episode" was consistent with him having been partially suffocated. His white cell count was "most telling": "Children who have been asphyxiated will have a sudden and substantial rise in white blood count in the absence of infection.”
In both the cases, various professionals described something known as ALTE’s (acute life threatening events). This can be known to be pre-curses to filicide (the killing of ones’ child).
Chloe's cause of death undetermined, rather than SIDS, because it was not possible to exclude homicide. Dr Beal would call it undetermined because Carol had told an investigating forensic officer that she had laid Chloe to sleep on her back, and babies did not die of SIDS while on their backs unless their faces were covered.
Joshua has to undergo a minor surgical procedure on his abdomen at the hospital. He had an extremely bizarre reaction, they believe he may have been poisoned by strychnine due to his tense body and arching that was not in a pattern typical to abdominal pain, he was given morphine but somehow overdosed/reacted, he had to spend 5 times longer on a ventilator than other babies would have.
Ear infection: the day before his death, Joshua was diagnosed with an ear infection. It is believed he died of septicaemia (blood poisoning) from this infection. Dr David Ranson, a forensic pathologist who would later conduct the autopsy on Shania and who reviewed Joshua's case, told the court he saw no reason not to accept the other pathologists finding on Joshua. He pointed out that babies with septicaemia could die very quickly.
But four other doctors doubted the finding.
Forensic pathologist Dr Allan Cala said he accepted that klebsiella was present, but he did not believe it had turned to septicaemia.
Pediatricians Dr Kym Anderson and Professor Michael South, and Dr Susan Beal, argued it was more likely that the klebsiella germ had come from contamination of Joshua's sample in the hospital environment.
Anderson said: "I have never known a child of that age to die quickly from klebsiella septicaemia . . . they would become sick over a number of hours or even longer, and the child would normally have a fever, be very lethargic, and have been vomiting (none of which Joshua had been doing).
Carol Matthey was found not guilty and walked away from court.
4. In Shania’s death, reviewing photos of her autopsy showed signs of mouth injury consistent with the lips being pressed in to the teeth.
5. One pathologist stated “There are no verified or substantiated cases of four SIDS deaths in one family.”
“With the family, there was also a history of the children experiencing "ALTEs" — apparent life-threatening episodes in which they stopped breathing or were found unconscious. "ALTES are not a predictor for SIDS; they're a predictor for (homicide).”
Okay sorry for how long this turned out! I hardly got to share any of the actual evidence too or it would be way too long! Feel free to read the links provided as they’re much more in-depth.
So what do you think: did these 2 women somehow become the unluckiest mothers in the world and lose all 4 of their children despite no generic conditions or markers that would cause that?
3rd of June 1990, she gives birth to another son Patrick. On the 18th of October, Kathleen’s husband Craig is awoken by screams - the child wasn’t breathing. CPR was commenced and paramedics arrived, taking him to hospital. He survived.. until February 18th 1991 when Kathleen called her husband at work to report his death saying, “it’s happened again!”
Following this loss, they move houses. Kathleen gives birth to Sarah on 14th October 1992. She dies on the 29th of August 1993.
7th of August 1997, Laura was born. She died on 27th of February 1999.
These deaths at the time were all attributed as cot deaths, until further investigation began. Various experts began weighing in with significant evidence Source 1 Source 2.
Now although I’ve researched this case I haven’t done so extensively and am not well versed in all sides of the argument (there’s a lot of evidence to trawl through). What I did discover though were the following facts:
British paediatrician, Professor Sir Roy Meadow who promoted himself as a child abuse expert states his hypothesis that: in multiple unexplained cot deaths in the same family: one (infant) death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder. - various experts all agreed with this opinion — apparently Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is unlikely to occur more than once unless there is a genetic condition present. Edit: Thanks to commenters I have been told that this doctor has been struck off and is a bit of a fraud. This doesn’t detract from the fact many other pathologists and doctors ruled these deaths as suspicious however..
Laura had myocarditis at the time of death. There was also no physical evidence linking Kathleen to their deaths. All the other deaths were by “undetermined causes”.
Kathleen’s husband Craig ended up joining the prosecutions case after discovering her diaries. Entires such as "I feel like the worst mother on this Earth. Scared she'll leave me now like Sarah did. I knew I was short-tempered and cruel sometimes to her, and she left. With a bit of help." were used by the prosecution to secure her with charges of murder.
Kathleen was sentenced to 40 years for the murders of her 4 children. Reduced to 30 on appeal. She is currently looking a judicial inquiry in to her case to prove that multiple children can all die of unidentified natural causes.
——————————.
Case Number 2: Carol Matthey Good article here.
The first died on the 8th of December in 1998. Jacob Matthey was two months old, and at the time the Coroner found he had died from sudden infant death syndrome. He was found dead in his cot.
Two years later, 4-month-old Chloe Matthey was found dead in her cot, and again the Coroner found the death was consistent with sudden infant death syndrome.
In July 2002, 3-month-old Joshua Matthey died, and the Coroner's report states that death occurred from a rare infection.
Three-year-old Shania Matthey died in April 2003. She allegedly fell off a table, stopped breathing, started breathing again but died later that night in her cot.
Some of the same medical experts who testified in the Kathleen Folbigg case. This time there was disagreement from forensics pathologists about whether there were signs of foul play.
Some facts about the case:
One month before Jacob’s death, paramedics were called as he was having significant trouble breathing. The paediatric neurologist who treated him stated he had suffered a “sudden insult to the brain” which can be caused by a number of things including seizures from being deprived from oxygen. Further investigation revealed he had a high white blood cell count but no infection. Following his death just a few weeks later, an American paediatric forensic pathologist who was flown to Australia for the investigation stated “Jacob's "apparent life-threatening episode" was consistent with him having been partially suffocated. His white cell count was "most telling": "Children who have been asphyxiated will have a sudden and substantial rise in white blood count in the absence of infection.”
In both the cases, various professionals described something known as ALTE’s (acute life threatening events). This can be known to be pre-curses to filicide (the killing of ones’ child).
Chloe's cause of death undetermined, rather than SIDS, because it was not possible to exclude homicide. Dr Beal would call it undetermined because Carol had told an investigating forensic officer that she had laid Chloe to sleep on her back, and babies did not die of SIDS while on their backs unless their faces were covered.
Joshua has to undergo a minor surgical procedure on his abdomen at the hospital. He had an extremely bizarre reaction, they believe he may have been poisoned by strychnine due to his tense body and arching that was not in a pattern typical to abdominal pain, he was given morphine but somehow overdosed/reacted, he had to spend 5 times longer on a ventilator than other babies would have.
Ear infection: the day before his death, Joshua was diagnosed with an ear infection. It is believed he died of septicaemia (blood poisoning) from this infection. Dr David Ranson, a forensic pathologist who would later conduct the autopsy on Shania and who reviewed Joshua's case, told the court he saw no reason not to accept the other pathologists finding on Joshua. He pointed out that babies with septicaemia could die very quickly.
But four other doctors doubted the finding.
Forensic pathologist Dr Allan Cala said he accepted that klebsiella was present, but he did not believe it had turned to septicaemia.
Pediatricians Dr Kym Anderson and Professor Michael South, and Dr Susan Beal, argued it was more likely that the klebsiella germ had come from contamination of Joshua's sample in the hospital environment.
Anderson said: "I have never known a child of that age to die quickly from klebsiella septicaemia . . . they would become sick over a number of hours or even longer, and the child would normally have a fever, be very lethargic, and have been vomiting (none of which Joshua had been doing).
Carol Matthey was found not guilty and walked away from court.
4. In Shania’s death, reviewing photos of her autopsy showed signs of mouth injury consistent with the lips being pressed in to the teeth.
5. One pathologist stated “There are no verified or substantiated cases of four SIDS deaths in one family.”
“With the family, there was also a history of the children experiencing "ALTEs" — apparent life-threatening episodes in which they stopped breathing or were found unconscious. "ALTES are not a predictor for SIDS; they're a predictor for (homicide).”
Okay sorry for how long this turned out! I hardly got to share any of the actual evidence too or it would be way too long! Feel free to read the links provided as they’re much more in-depth.
So what do you think: did these 2 women somehow become the unluckiest mothers in the world and lose all 4 of their children despite no generic conditions or markers that would cause that?