In 2013, Purvi Patel was arrested after she sought treatment at a hospital emergency room for heavy vaginal bleeding. While being examined by medical personnel, Patel told doctors she’d had a miscarriage and had disposed of the remains. Investigators located the remains and later charged her with both feticide and felony neglect of a dependent, based on their theory that she had self-induced an abortion and delivered a live infant, which then almost immediately died post-delivery.In February 2015, a jury convicted Patel of both counts. In July 2016, the Indiana Court of Appeals vacated Patel’s feticide conviction, holding the statute was not designed to be used to criminally charge people for their own failed pregnancies. However, the court largely upheld Patel’s felony neglect of a dependent conviction, deferring to controversial medical testimony offered by the state that claimed Patel’s fetus was on the cusp of viability and had taken a breath outside her post-delivery.She had initially been sentenced to serve 20 years. On 1 September, she walked out of prison, a day after a judge re-sentenced her to less time than she had already served and ordered her immediate release.SOURCES: Rewire, by Jessica Mason Pieklo, 24 August, 2016 ; CTVNews, 1 September 2016 ; PHOTO: CBS News, 1 September 2016
