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Lisa S. Green, JD
Civic Center Justice Building Bakersfield, Calif

JAMA. 1996;275(3):183.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—As the prosecutor in the case of the People of the State of California v Karen Henderson,¹ discussed in a JAMA letter,²I believe I have a better understanding of the facts and the outcome of the case than the authors.

Henderson was charged with second-degree murder and felony child endangerment stemming from her repeated ingestion of methamphetamine and her subsequent breast-feeding of her infant son.

Contrary to the authors' statement, Henderson was convicted of child endangerment following the presentation of uncontradicted evidence that she snorted methamphetamine and subsequently breast-fed her baby despite repeated warnings not to do so. The murder charge, which resulted in a hung jury (11-1 for guilty), was based on three separate warnings to Henderson (two from a social worker and one from her own obstetrician-gynecologist) to discontinue her methamphetamine use if she was going to breast-feed her baby. Henderson acknowledged . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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