Some people have delusions, psychotic episodes, an extreme inability to foresee the consequences of their actions, etc. But a lot of what we label “mental illness” comes down to a subjective judgment of what a human brain “should” be like.

Source?

We had to give our kids medications for asthma attacks around that age (maybe 5 months?) and it is that overly sweet fake-fruit flavoring that they use so that the babies won’t spit it out (I think the early vaccines are the same). All to say that I think a lot of babies wouldn’t reject it and this whole situation is…

There are a lot of people out there who don’t have the best grasp on proper nutrition for an infant. It’s not at all uncommon to see people who think juice is perfectly appropriate for a child of any age.

and i’ll agree with you that jumping to conclusions on a criminal’s mental state, etc, without the information needs to stop.

i see quite the opposite. so often men who commit horrible crimes are automatically assumed to be “mentally ill” — ESPECIALLY when those men are white. same with white women. you and i could both come up with examples, i’m sure.

Women can literally only have PPD if they are postpartum. Their hormones ARE all over the place. I could see where you were coming from if women tried to use PPD when they kill their elementary-school-aged children, that would be a fair comparison. Men do not go through significant bodily changes after their partner…

I think it definitely could have been both. If she was suffering from PPD, killing herself and her children may have felt like a rational response to her children’s father at the time.

are you discounting this woman’s mental health troubles?

THIS! People don’t believe that mental health is a health care issue. Plus, this strikes most often between weeks one-four postpartum, and most women aren’t seen by their doctors again until week six. That makes it harder to get help too (assuming you even HAVE the means to get this care). It sounds like she was also…

I mean not always? We introduced purees to my daughter at 4 months and she was happy as clam to eat milk or fruit. Something sweet probably isn’t going to end in rejection.

It’s possible she was going the long-game route with giving the kids diabetes, but decided to step up her plan for the sake of efficiency.

Why is it ridiculous or ludicrous? Because she’s a woman?

I’m going to assume it was a one-time thing, and she only gave it to the 4 month old because she was trying to kill her.

Are you a mental health expert? Ever has post partum depression or psychosis? who are you to question what this woman was going through?

That’s not how the law works. The insanity is based on whether you knew right from wrong at the time the crime was committed, not your state of mind at trial.

Postpartum psychosis is absolutely terrifying and this case is heartbreaking for absolutely everyone involved. Pregnancy/Birth/Breastfeeding under perfectly healthy, normal circumstances fucks with your hormones so much. It’s scary and tremendously strange. I can only imagine how incredibly surreal and terrible it…

Because that’s not the standard. For an insanity defense, the person must be unable to distinguish fantasy from reality or not have any idea that what they are doing is wrong. Her actions leading up to the event show that she understood what she was doing (she left a suicide note), and could probably appreciate the…

I really can’t think of any worse punishment than living with the knowledge that I killed my children. With postpartum depression (and many other conditions that affect women only) there always seems to be a certain segment of society that believe you’re faking it.

Because she didn’t meet the standard for insanity in New York State. Instead, the judge knocked her charges down from murder to manslaughter. Since was found guilty on that charge, she must serve prison time.