Andrea Yates Case Study Essay

Postpartum depression is one of the most common complications of childbearing with an estimated prevalence of 19.2% in the first three months after delivery (1). Depressive episodes (major and mild) may be experienced by approximately half of women during the first postpartum year (1). Characterized by depressed mood, loss of pleasure or interest in daily activities, feelings of worthlessness and guilt, irritability, sleep and eating disturbances (2), its etiology is multi-faceted and complex (3;4).

Americans hear about all sorts of murders on the news almost every day. It is not strange for us. However, murder of two young children by their own mother is astounding news. In the case of Susan Smith, no matter how she claims she was not in her right mind that night she murdered her children, she is definitely not a victim. There are many alternatives to relieving your duty as a mother. Murder should not be on top of a mother’s list even if she was mentally ill.

After close review and careful analysis of the case of Andrea Yates and the circumstances which led to the drowning death and murder of her five children, I first would like to state my personal opinion on the conclusion of the case which was the majority consensus at the time of her trial and sentencing. She was guilty of a horrible murder and although certainly had mental problems, which is apparent by her actions that most completely rational thinking human being and mother would be incapable of committing, and expertly

This particular case is a murder case, the killing is described as a brutal fashion from someone with a deep hatred for the victim. This cold-blooded murder's remained a mystery that baffled the police for three years. The officers of the law would have never suspected the killer to be a 17 year-old girl. Christine Paolilla was just a bright little girl until a number of misfortunes happened to her family, that changed her life forever. Parents, Charles and Lori Paolilla with little brother John Paolilla. Her father died in a consruciton accident. After losing her husband, Lori started abusing drugs and eventually losing custody her children to her parents. Christine was diagnosed with alopecia which caused her to lose her hair, eyebrows,

In 2001, Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub in her home. This was very disturbing news. I am a native Houstonian. I was at home that day. The television was on and will never forget the news breaking announcements that broke the story of a homicide in Clear Lake. All the information the reporters had was a mother killed all her children then called the police to report it. The full story and the details that lead to this tragedy did not unfold until years later. It was sad because as details unfolded if Andrea Yates had been treated properly and followed her doctors

Andrea Yates long history of mental illness did impact what she did to her children as well as an outside influence of Michael and Rachel Woroniecki. In 1993 Rusty and Andrea married and a year later they had their first child a son named Noah. They planned on having many children whatever God intended for them. Their five children were all named after figures from the Bible. After Andrea’s first child Noah was born she began to have violent visions and felt that Satan was speaking to her. Andrea kept all her feelings to herself not realizing how much mental illness was in her family because she and Rusty had Bible inspired notions about family and motherhood. Andrea tried to have a fourth child, but suffered a miscarriage. Not long

The stories about Andrea being insane and having a psychological disorder do not prove to be true. According to Dr. Puryear, “Mrs. Yates was insane at the time driven by delusions that they were going to hell and she must save them.” If her doctor was aware of her status before all this happened, why did he let her be at home? Yates should have been helped and treated, since Dr. Puryear claims she had suffered from psychotic delusions. Dr. Puryear said “This woman did not now right from wrong,” as he stated to Court Television Network, on February 2,2002. It is somewhat strange how Mr. Yates claims he had no suspicions of her being unhealthful in the mind. What kind of married couple will not be able to detect this in their partner? Some of the jurors believed Andrea was mentally ill, but they also believed that she knew right from wrong. This is a key element in determining if the Andrea meets the legal definition of insanity.

On June 20, 2001 a woman by the name of Andrea Yates, stunned the whole country with one of the most bizarre acts of violence that a parents could ever do to their own children. She called her husband at work and told him “I did it” confused by what was going on, he rush home only to find his house filled with officers of the law. The husband asked, “What is going on?”, and only to found out that his wife had drowned all five of their children.

June 20th, 2001, Andrea Yates, one by one, drowned her five children and laid their lifeless corpses side by side on her bed. She then called her emergency services, as well as her husband, telling them that they needed to come to her home. As she walked out of her home, still dripping wet with the bathwater, she was arrested. By killing her children, she believed that she was ‘saving them’. Her reasoning behind this was that the devil was after

Darlie stabbed her two older children to death and faked a home invasion. On the night of June 6, 1996 in Rowlett, Routier called the police telling the operator that an intruder had come into her home and stabbed her and her two little boys. When the police had arrived on the scene her oldest son Devon, 6, was deceased and they tried to revive Damon, 5, but was unsuccessful. She would later testify that she had fallen asleep in front of the television with her two oldest boys, when the intruder entered and attacked her and the children leaving her infant and husband upstairs asleep unharmed. A video was taken eight days after the boy’s deaths of their mother being full of joy and spraying silly string on the graves for Devon’s birthday. Twelve days after the brutal murders of the Routier boys, Darlie Routier was arrested and charged with capital murder. The experts testified that the blood splatter on the back of her shirt had to of come for her reaching over her head each time before she stabbed the boys. More evidence would come flooding in of what the detectives had found, that there were bloody footprints in the kitchen underneath the vacuum and broken glass. The defendant said that the vacuum was there and everything else was there before that dreadful night, if what conspired the way she stated then the evidence wouldn’t have been under the vacuum and it would seem as if she was trying to

Mrs. Andrea Yates murdered her five young children, aged 6 months to 7 years old. Since the birth of her fourth child she had had serious bouts with depression. She had suicidal tendencies that had earned her multiple stay at a hospital and was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. She was on and off different anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, mutilated herself, stopped feeding her youngest child and was seeing a couple of psychiatrists. These therapists warned of Mrs. Yates not taking her prescriptions and being left alone with the children. One of her therapist recommended her needing constant supervision alone and definitely with her children. Her mother-in-law had been coming over after Mr. Yates left for work each morning. Her husband said that he was not aware of this and in the weeks leading up to the murders had insisted that the only way to cure his wife of this depression was to give her increasing responsibility for her children. He decided that his mother would come over in the mornings after giving Mrs. Yates an hour to be alone with them. On the morning of June 20, 2001during one of these hours, Mrs. Yates committed her crime.

The insanity defense of Andrea Yates: The country was absolutely appalled when it heard that Yates, a mother of five children, had killed each of her children resulting in a horrific family slaughter. There were extremely polarized feelings about this case- sympathy (concluding

Consequently, the treatment for postpartum depression is more intense than that for the baby blues. Among the many treatments, many mothers undergo intense counseling, take antidepressants, or even experience hormone therapy ((3)).

This is case that faces Mary Barnett. The issue in this case is that On January 23, the litigant, Mary Barnett, left Chicago to visit her life partner in San Francisco having left her six-month-old little girl, Alison, unattended in the apartment. Mary Barnett returned home a week later to find that her child had died of dehydration. She called the police and at first, to let them know that she had left her kid with a baby sitter. She later expressed that she had left the child and she didn 't mean to return, and that she knew Alison would die in a day or two. She has been accused of wrongdoing of second-degree murder; purposeful homicide without intention. In the event that she is sentenced, she could face up to eighteen years in prison. This piece of writing tries to give the verdict of the case after critically examining both prosecution and defendant side.

Mothers who have brought into this world a blessing have been preparing themselves for a big change in their life. They have been learning and educating themselves about how to be a good mother. Many mothers find it really hard to transition from being an independent woman without children to becoming a mother (Corrigan, Kwasky, & Groh, 2015). Adapting to motherhood can be a drastic change, and usually creates challenges that lead to feeling overwhelmed (Leger & Letourneau, 2015). When a newly mother begins experiencing stress or becomes emotional then there can be a possibility that they can encounter Postpartum Depression (Leger et al., 2015). Postpartum depression can be seen and experienced in many different ways, it all varies on every mother (Corrigan et al., 2015). Many different mental health issues can be seen including baby blues, postpartum depression, postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder, and the most serious, postpartum psychosis (Tam & Leslie, 2001).