Dads Against the Divorce Industry

DA*DI is devoted to reinstating the societal valuation of Marriage and the traditional, nuclear American Family, with particular emphasis on the essential role of FATHERS.

DA*DI offers contemporary reports and commentary on culture; its aberrations and its heroes.

Woman Gets 8 Years for Killing Baby


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BARTOW, Fla. (AP) - A baby sitter was sentenced to eight years in prison Friday for giving a 3 1/2-month-old girl a lethal dose of Benadryl to quiet her.

Paula Burcham, 53, pleaded no contest to manslaughter in the 2001 accidental death of Grace Fields.

The judge gave Burcham the maximum sentenced allowable under a plea agreement, finding she covered up the death by not telling paramedics she had given the baby the over-the-counter cold medication.

An antidote exists to Benadryl and might have saved the baby had paramedics known to give it to her, Circuit Court Judge Dick Prince found.

The baby's mother, Tracy Fields, said Friday she was satisfied both by the sentence and the widespread attention the case has drawn to the practice of using over-the-counter medicines to quiet cranky babies.

``I don't want another parent to go through this,'' Fields said. ``It didn't take a whole lot for this beautiful little baby to die from an over-the-counter medicine.''

Burcham didn't admit she gave the baby Benadryl until six months after Grace's death.


08/15/03 21:54



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