On Friday, the Des Moines Register reported that Heidi Anfinson was awarded a new trial after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that her initial lawyer was ineffective in failing to submit evidence of depression and odd behavior prior to her 2-week-old son being found drowned. The decision means Anfinson, now serving 50 years in state prison for the second-degree murder of her two-week-old son, Jacob Anfinson in 1998, could be free on bail as early as next week.
Alfredo Parrish, Anfinson’s new lawyer, said the ruling is good news for women because it means defense attorneys now are obligated to examine all possible cases of postpartum depression before deciding on a defense.
Anfinson’s family later argued during a post-conviction relief petition that Heidi’s original lawyer rebuffed their wishes before the murder trials and refused to pursue evidence of postpartum psychosis and Anfinson’s history of childbirth-related mental problems.
“We find a reasonable probability that if a reasonable investigation had been undertaken, evidence would have been developed and presented at trial tending to establish Anfinson’s conduct from the time of Jacob’s birth until his death was profoundly affected by postpartum depression,” the justices wrote.
Here’s another story on this: http://iowaindependent.com/7208/anfinson-relative-this-has-been-a-long-road
I was at the Jennifer Mudd Houghtaling Postpartum Depression conference in Chicago when I got this news. Then I ran into George Parnham, Andrea Yates’ lawyer, and shared the news with him as well. He was on his way to speak to the law students at Northwestern, and he took a copy of the Des Moines Register article with him. It’s SO important for all members of the legal system to be educated on mental illness. I’m glad we have compassionate people like George who understand that sometimes horrible things happen to people who are terribly ill. I’m grateful that he is willing to share his experience with others.
In related news, Iowa Health Systems is now going to start depression screenings for all women who give birth.
How wonderful that Iowa will now be screening new moms for depression. I hope more states follow suit. I'm so glad post-partum mood disorders are getting more attention, but I do wish people would make a stronger distinction between ppd and post-partum psychosis. I think alot of women who have ppd rather than post-partum psychosis (and who aren't in danger of hurting their kids) end up not seeking out help because they associate ppd only with these very few women who tragically end up killing their children and who (as I understand it) actually suffer from post-partum psychosis rather than ppd, a very different illness. I think many women with ppd don't seek help either because they don't want to risk being lumped in with those women and seen as dangerous (or risk having their kids taken away) or they don't think they can have ppd because they're not thinking about hurting their kids. So yay for more attention to these matters, but I do hope for better and more careful coverage as well.
The last link for this post went to an article titled "Untreated Postpartum Depression Dangerous". The article said in print and in the video that PPD can lead to postpartum psychosis. Not true.
It's disconcerting when it's a hospital putting out this information.