ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 17, 1996 TAG: 9607170022
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press RICHMOND
A 17-year-old girl delivered her own baby at the Bon Air Correctional Center in Chesterfield County in March, and her cries for help were ignored, her family says in a report published Tuesday.
However, state officials said the girl received proper medical care and that her baby, which died shortly after birth, was premature. The remains were cremated and shipped to relatives in California.
Authorities declined to discuss the case in detail because the girl is a juvenile and her medical records are confidential. She could not be interviewed.
``Unfortunately, due to privacy protection, people can come forward with inaccurate reports and we're not in a position to correct them,'' said Bill Cimino, a spokesman for Secretary of Public Safety Jerry Kilgore.
Department of Juvenile Justice sources told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the girl was under a physician's care, and her baby, which was not breathing when born, was too premature to survive.
However, one source in the department told the newspaper that the girl's medical complaints before delivery were not taken as seriously as they should have been and that she wound up delivering the baby herself in the center's infirmary. She had a history of miscarriage.
A spokesman for the state medical examiner's office said the baby was born alive and died because it was premature.
Members of the girl's family, whose names were not published to avoid identifying the girl, said she had been injured in a tussle with police while appearing in a courtroom the day before the birth.
The family also said the girl was alone when she went into labor.
``She didn't get any help and she said that she did it all by herself,'' said her aunt, who said the girl was six months' pregnant. ``She was complaining, `Help me, help me.' She said that nobody came to help her.''
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