The Aftermath of Amirah Rayne
So Many Unanswered Questions
Thursday, July 28, 2022
Four days since my water broke, 4 days of contractions, at last giving birth to my breech baby, then watching resuscitation attempts for 44 minutes at Rogue Birth Center (RBC) and 19 more minutes at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center (TRMC), experiencing significant blood loss (barely escaping transfusion), followed by repair surgery — we were able to get a little rest overnight . We were discharged from the hospital and drove to the funeral home to see Amirah and make arrangements.
The funeral director informed us that Lyndsey Cotton, JoCo medical examiner’s RN investigator, had been there earlier to view Amirah. The question of autopsy came up and the funeral director called Cotton.
Cotton informed us that an autopsy wasn’t needed because everyone involved in determining the cause of Amirah’s death was in agreement, including the midwives.
RBC Records | Phone call from Lyndsey Cotton to Amy Hendrickson (now Wessner):
Intrauterine means inside the uterus, and what they claim here, despite never breathing, is that while Amirah experienced a lack of oxygen inside the uterus (for God knows how long), she was somehow born alive because they claim that there was an initial cord pulse (not heartbeat of baby’s chest) of 90.
We mentioned in an earlier post that maternal vital signs were never taken and that there are known limitations and confusion issues between mother and baby through the umbilical cord.
The bottom line is that RBC needed a ‘live birth’ in order to be paid for the remaining weeks of neglect that killed Amirah.
AMR EMT Records:
Asante TRMC Records:
Josephine County Medical Examiner, Investigator - Lyndsey Cotton, RN Records:
Grants Pass Fire & Rescue Records:
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After a very intense visit at the funeral home holding our frozen baby, we drove over to RBC to pick up our things, unannounced. As we pulled up, Willa and Todd were walking out with our box of stuff. We went into the birth center to talk to Willa, Amy, Megan, Taylor, and Todd. We told them what Lyndsey Cotton had said about an autopsy. They told us that they didn’t agree with her and that one should be done. Todd verbally agreed.
I asked Willa why she thought Amirah was breech when all this time we believed that she was head down, and she said Amirah must have turned last minute. She said babies sometimes do that when there is something genetically wrong with them.
I asked Willa why she had recommended at the hospital that we take antidepressants. RBC midwives make and sell tinctures for postpartum, but she wasn’t recommending them. Willa said that she thought that pharmaceuticals would “help with the process” (grief). She said that all the RBC midwives are taking pills due to the “stress of the job”.
It was time to go as we could no longer stand to be near the room that our daughter died in. As we were leaving, Willa told us to go home, relax and drink a bottle of wine.
Nothing made sense as to how this happened. It didn’t make sense that we were being told no autopsy was needed and yet we had so many questions. Now the midwives are telling us to go home to take pills and drink.
Over the course of the next few days, family visited Amirah at the funeral home to love, hold and kiss her sweet body.
