A day-old baby passed away in the arms of his homeless mother at a bus stop in the United States.
It is unclear if the newborn froze to death in Portland’s snowy weather conditions or if the baby boy was stillborn.
The city’s local paper Williamette Week reports that the infant, who was found on the 9th of January, marked the fifth death on the American city’s streets in the first ten days of this year.
According to the police report, the child’s mother, who was barefoot and partially-clothed, was spotted by a male passer-by who called the emergency services.
Police officers stated that the mother was unable to respond coherently to questions.
Officer Justin Raphael reported that the woman said she’d become pregnant “by the miracle of immaculate conception” and he wrote in his official report that he had concerns about the new mother’s mental health:
“It was very clear to me she was very mentally ill.”
The infant was treated by emergency services and transferred to hospital but, tragically, medics were unable to save the baby boy who was believed to have been born early at about 32 weeks.
Officer Raphael wrote:
“OHSU personnel notified me that they were going to cease life saving efforts on the newborn. The newborn was pronounced dead at 06:41 hours.”
A spokesperson for Portland Police Bureau stated that police delayed reporting the baby’s death to the public while they were awaiting clarification on the cause of death.
