January 10, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – A mother has admitted in court to trying to kill her infant son when she dumped him in a hospital bathroom trash can in the United Kingdom after delivering him in the summer.
After reporting to the emergency room with abdominal pain on July 5, 2016, Orsolya-Anamaria Balogh spent some time in the toilet at Wigan’s Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, hospital staff said.
The 27-year-old checked in about 7:40 p.m. with her partner, The Sun reported, telling a triage nurse there was no possibility she could be pregnant. She left before being called by a nurse at 10:20 p.m.
A hospital custodian discovered the baby after finding the garbage bin was “unusually heavy” and hearing a stifled squeaking sound. The child was still in the fetal position, his umbilical cord cut and his mouth stuffed with tissues.
Doctors gave him oxygen, and he has since fully recovered.
“The baby survived his ordeal with remarkable fortitude,” prosecutor Richard Pratt said, “and with medical intervention was effectively unscathed by the circumstances of his birth.”
Staff subsequently learned Balogh took a taxi home at 10:10. When police later questioned her there, she denied giving birth. However, a midwife exam proved otherwise. Balogh finally admitted to having her baby in the bathroom but contended the child wasn’t breathing and she assumed he was dead.
Balogh also claimed she wasn’t aware she was pregnant, but authorities found Internet searches related to pregnancy and home birth on her computer.
Reports from court-appointed psychiatrists said she was disturbed by the birth and suffered disassociation.
Judge Neil Flewitt told Balogh, who had a Romanian interpreter in court, that he anticipated issuing a ruling that would allow her release with appropriate support.
Sentencing for Balogh, in custody since the day after leaving her newborn in the hospital trash bin last July, was deferred until January 16.