Beware of forgotten baby syndrome

While leading a busy lifestyle may turn anyone absent-minded, forgetting about one's own child could be too much.

LONDON: While trying to lead a busy lifestyle may turn anyone absent-minded, forgetting about one's own child could be too much. However, many parents have paid a heavy cost for their forgetting baby syndrome.

Forty-year-old Karen Murphy's experience is one such example. Happily married and a devoted mother to three children - Emily, 11, Abigail, nine, and two-year-old Ryan - Karen also owned a large veterinary practice, the Daily Mail reported.

On June 17, she drove the short distance to work. She had planned to drop Ryan off at nursery on the way. But when she returned home in afternoon, her husband called up to ask about the baby's whereabouts, as the baby wasn't in the nursery.

She sprinted to her car only to find the baby strapped into the car's back seat. He'd been left in a scorching hot car for over seven hours. Despite frantic attempts to resuscitate Ryan, he died of heatstroke.

Presently, in the US town of Bristow, Virginia, Karen goes on trial accused of murder and child neglect.

In another case, Lucio Petrizzi, a university lecturer, narrated how once he was convinced of having dropped his 22-month-old daughter Elena off at nursery. But he had actually left her in a stiflingly hot car for five hours.

The baby was later declared brain dead.

While there have been no fatal cases of Forgotten Baby Syndrome reported in Britain, campaigners are eager to raise awareness of this problem in the hope of preventing future tragedies.

Emma Taylor, 36, from Buckinghamshire, thought it was impossible, until it happened to her. Emma, who works in recruitment, is married to Tom, and the couple have a three-year-old son, Josh.

In the hurry to be at the church she forgot to pick her child. She had to return home, leaving the occasion on hold, only to find he had been left inside their home.