Woman Gives Birth While Killing Self, Newborn Hanging By Umbilical Cord Rescued

A mother gave birth while she was ending life by hanging in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh on Thursday. While the mother died, the baby was rescued by police.

Laxmi Thakur, a 36-year-old mother of four children, was found by her husband, who immediately informed the police. Kavita Sahni, a woman sub-inspector, rushed to the scene and spotted the newborn tangled in the mother’s sari between her legs with the umbilical cord still attached.

She then cleaned the baby boy and placed him in a sheet below his mother's body before doctors arrived. Doctors then cut the umbilical cord to separate him from his mother and subsequently admitted the baby at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of a nearby hospital. The baby was stable, DNA India reported.

“We got a call around 7.13am that a woman has committed suicide by hanging herself in Katni town. I reached the spot quickly. While examining her body I found the baby trapped inside Laxmi's sari. He was alive. I called for immediate medical assistance. After cutting the umbilical cord and separating him, we brought mother's body down for an autopsy,” Sahni told local daily the Times Of India.

“Unfortunate incident it is, but at least we could save the baby. We are hopeful that he will survive. Doctors say delay on our part could have risked his life further. It's a miraculous survival of the baby after mother’s death,” she added.

The exact cause of suicide was not known. The woman's husband, Santhosh, told police there were no issues between them and that they had gone to sleep the previous night after watching TV. He looked for her as she was not in the house when he woke up the following morning and found her hanging at a cowshed near the house.

Both Santhosh and his wife were farmers and used to sell vegetables for a living. They have four other children and Laxmi was nine months pregnant when the unfortunate incident happened. The eldest among them is a 16-year-old daughter.

“It is difficult to find out the exact timing of her suicide and the delivery. But it is for sure that the baby was born because of hanging. All possible efforts to ascertain the cause behind the suicide will be made as the family is clueless,” said Vivek Lal, assistant superintendent of police.

Doctors say this was the first documented case of a woman giving birth during or after suicide by hanging.

“The baby has a good chance of survival,” a doctor at the hospital told News Nation.

If you have thoughts of suicide, confidential help is available for free at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Call 1-800-273-8255. The line is available 24 hours, every day.