Indian-American mother accused of drowning baby

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office,from the day her son was born,Neha said she hated him and the hatred reached a fatal level on that day,when she first slapped him and then purposefully left him alone to drown in a bathtub half full of water.

When she returned 10 minutes later and found him unconscious,she refused to perform emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation,even though she knew the procedure,the sheriff’s office said. Patel had reportedly been diagnosed with post-partum depression but was apparently not taking her medication,according to police and media reports. When Patel returned home at 2 am the next morning,she told her husband Rasesh Patel,a quality assurance manager at JP Morgan in Tampa,that Ishan was dead,handed the body to the father and drove off,telling her husband she planned to kill herself.

Neha was arrested that afternoon at the Tampa International Airport,sitting in her car on the fourth floor of the parking structure. She is being held without bail in a medical dormitory at a county jail,according to Carrie Eleazer,public information officer for the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

Health Department spokeswoman Pam Crain said post-partum depression,which is a chemical,hormonal imbalance,can be moderate to severe shortly after giving birth,and affects 10 to 15 per cent of women. Symptoms include negative feelings about the baby and anxiety. “It’s something that is treatable and it’s something … that if a woman is having any thought of harming themselves or their baby … they should seek help immediately,” Crain said.