Editorial on parents who kill their kids: Longo vs Yates ?
But if there's truth in what authorities suspect about the Oregon
father and the Texas mother, are their deeds essentially the same,
or vastly different?
Longo, 27, is suspected of killing his wife and their three children.
His 4-year-old son's body was found Dec. 19 in a coastal inlet near
Waldport, Ore. The body of a daughter, 3, was later found near the
same spot. Longo's wife and 2-year-old girl were found dead Dec. 27
in a Newport, Ore., marina.
Officials haven't hinted at a motive, but the deaths have been
declared homicides. Longo is the target of a manhunt centered around
San Francisco.
In Houston, meanwhile, jury selection began Tuesday in Yates' murder
trial. The 37-year-old mother confessed that she drowned her five
children, ages 6 months to 7 years, in a bathtub. She has pleaded
innocent by reason of insanity.
Her attorneys say she suffered from severe postpartum depression. To
that, my reaction is, "So what?"
I'm the least likely person inclined to parrot Rush Limbaugh. But
here, I'll sound like a right-wing radio rant.
Longo's story is a mystery. In the Texas case, the defense has
fingered a complex villain, postpartum depression.
I can't comprehend any mother being so far gone she'd hold five
children, one after another, under water until they were lifeless
and not know what she was doing was wrong.
I'm not Limbaugh. I'll listen to someone who can comprehend it.
Alycia Wolfstone is a perinatal clinical nurse specialist at
Providence Everett Medical Center. She explained how new mothers
at the hospital are told about warning signs of postpartum
depression.
"Baby blues" are normal between two days and two weeks after
delivery, Wolfstone said. Caused by hormones and situational
stress, this mild depression is experienced by 80 percent of
mothers, she said. Women may have mood swings, crying jags and a
lack of confidence.
More severe, affecting 10 percent to 20 percent of women, is
postpartum depression. Wolfstone said it can appear anytime within
a year after birth. It involves loss of appetite, difficulty
sleeping, extreme despair, fears of hurting the baby, guilt and
sometimes suicidal thoughts.
"The most serious form is postpartum psychosis," Wolfstone said.
"It affects one to two out of 1,000 women. It's very, very dangerous
and very, very serious."