Doctor finds newborn in trash can; mom arrested

A doctor found a newborn girl in a garbage can at a hospital, and the infant’s mother is accused of putting her there.

Dr. Judson Newman Krosney found the baby alive in a restroom at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale after the mother gave birth, police said.

The mother, Rubi Ramirez, 25, of Fort Lauderdale, had been taken to the hospital with abdominal pain, a police report said. While there, her mother found her bleeding in the restroom and called nurses.

Krosney, who was supposed to treat Ramirez, saw the nurses near her in the bathroom. He asked Ramirez if she was pregnant and she told him no, the report said.

Krosney apparently didn’t believe her and searched the restroom. In a plastic-lined garbage can, beneath a pile of bloodied paper towels, he found the newborn. The baby, believed to have been carried to full term, was alive and breathing, the report said.

The child has been placed in foster care, according to the Florida Department of Children and Families, which is investigating.

During police interviews, Ramirez initially claimed she didn’t know she was pregnant, and that the baby “fell” into the garbage can. She also said that she called for help and alerted hospital staff that the baby was in the garbage, according to the report.

Later, Ramirez confessed to knowing she was pregnant before she arrived at the hospital and said the infant opened her eyes after the delivery. Ramirez admitted putting the baby beneath the paper towels, the report said.

Ramirez’s attorney, Jeffrey Bloom, said Friday: “We believe that there are some mental health issues involved in this case. We are going to investigate further and as the facts develop, we believe it will be shown that Ms. Ramirez is the victim in this case.”

Ramirez has been in a hospital since she was taken into custody the night of Oct. 5. She faces charges of abuse of a child without great bodily harm and desertion of a child. A Broward judge granted a $5,000 bond and ordered Ramirez to not have contact with her baby.