Dad accused of abusing newborn in NICU

[The Straight Story]

Dad accused of abusing newborn in NICU


PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) - Portsmouth Police have charged a man with abusing his 11-day-old son while the newborn was in an intensive care unit on Feb. 1.

Jan Clark with the Portsmouth Police Department said officers were called to the Portsmouth Naval Medical Center in the 300 block of Effingham Street for a report of possible abuse.

There, they learned sometime between 1:30 a.m. and 2:30 a.m., the newborn received bruises to his body while in the Neo Natal Intensive Care Unit. The newborn had visible contusions to his back and face, Clark said.

After further investigation, police arrested the newborn’s father, Matthew Wayne Strawn, 21, of Portsmouth and charged him with one count of felony child abuse and one count of felonious assault.

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/crime/dad-accused-of-abusing-newborn-in-nicu

[MADem]

1. Is the child's mother USN, or is he? Or are they both?

If he's on active duty, he's got big trouble on top of the trouble he's got as a consequence of child abuse charges.

The lack of detail in this report is noticeable.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. WTF??

Hearing about things like this makes me want to become a hermit. Sometime people suck beyond description. I hope the baby is OK, and that they throw the book at this guy.

[TwilightGardener]

3. Need more details before judging.

[Warpy]

4. Same here. Neonates are often fragile in ways no one expects

and I'd need to know what this kiddo's liver enzymes and clotting factors were.

The abuse would have to be witnessed by staff for this one to stick. The presence of superficial bruising doesn't mean much.

[GoCubsGo]

5. This doesn't make sense.

Every NICU I have ever seen has been swarming with nurses and other medical personnel. How could they not notice somebody abusing one of their patients?

[yellerpup]

8. He and the child were in a private room

(called "rooming in" in the article)outside the NICU. When nurses came in they removed the baby and called the police.

[0rganism]

6. how does one even abuse an infant in an ICU?

setting aside any questions of motivation, it's not like the daddy would have a lot of "alone time" with an infant in an incubator regularly overseen by hospital staff.

this seems very strange, enough so that i'd suspect there's more to the story.

[Shrike47]

7. This is very strange.

I am somewhat dubious of abuse under the circumstances. A misguided attempt to assist breathing?