ABANDONED BABY Doctors expect newborn found in mall to survive
After suffering from hypothermia, the boy's condition has stabilized.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A worker cleaning a bathroom at a downtown mall found a newborn boy in a trash can, police said.
Officers checked surveillance video Tuesday to try to find the mother and followed up on a few leads, police spokesman Lt. Thomas Stacho said.
Dr. John Moore, director of the neonatal intensive care uunit at MetroHealth Medical Center, said the baby had hypothermia with a temperature of 80 degrees when he arrived at the hospital Monday afternoon.
The umbilical cord still was attached, and Dr. Moore estimated that the child had been born Monday morning. The boy was in fair condition Tuesday.
How he was found
Rebecca Reyes, a maintenance worker at Tower City Center, said she was changing the plastic liner in a garbage can and noticed it was heavy. After she placed it in a hallway, she saw it was moving, then heard shrieks and squeals, followed by crying.
Earlier, Reyes had observed blood around one of the restroom stalls.
She saw the baby when a co-worker ripped open a plastic bag inside the liner. "I feel like I saved a life," Reyes said.
After a night at the hospital, the baby's condition stabilized, and Dr. Moore said doctors expect him to survive, though they're concerned about the possibility of brain damage because of the hypothermia.
Ohio law allows a mother to surrender an unwanted baby less than 72 hours old to any police officer, emergency medical worker or hospital employee -- with no questions asked.