A Michigan couple is charged with involuntary manslaughter after refusing to seek medical care for their newborn daughter.
Rachel Joy Piland, and her husband, Joshua Barry Piland, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter after refusing to seek medical treatment for their newborn daughter “even after a midwife warned that the infant’s jaundice could lead to brain damage or death.”
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Rachel Joy Piland, 30, and her husband Joshua Barry Piland, 36, refused to seek medical treatment for their daughter Abigail, police said.
When tiny Abigail started to cough up blood, Rachel laid her on a windowsill and started warming her with a hairdryer, before listening to hours of sermons. Rachel's mother Rebecca discovered Abigail's lifeless body the next morning.
Police have revealed heartbreaking details of how Abigail's life ended after just three days. She was born at the Piland's home on February 6, the Lansing Journal reports. A midwife and two assistants helped and initially described Abigail as a healthy girl. But when the midwife returned the next day the baby appeared jaundiced.
It occurs when babies overproduce bilirubin, a pigment in red blood cells. Most cases don't require treatment but excessive jaundice can cause brain damage. The midwife warned the Pilands that Abigail should be taken straight to a hospital. Detective Peter Scaccia said: "Rachel declined to seek any medical treatment for Abigail, stating God makes no mistakes." By the next day, the child wasn't eating properly and was coughing up blood. Rachel placed the baby "near a window wearing just a diaper utilizing a hair dryer to keep her warm," Detective Scaccia added.
The mother "would not allow" the child to be taken to a hospital and later that morning Abigail was found not breathing. Joshua took the tiny tot's corpse upstairs, at which point the couple knelt beside it and prayed for her resurrection instead of calling an ambulance.
Officers arrested the pair after Rachel's brother called from California and told them of Abigail's death. Her autopsy confirmed that she died from unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia and kernicterus - conditions related to jaundice.
Rachel and Joshua were each charged with a single count of involuntary manslaughter and released after posting $75,000 bond on September 21. They face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
