Andrea Yates R.N.

sanctuary, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 8, 2006

I'm still amazed that he was not arrested along with her, and considering the slovenly condition of the house, could have been charged c child endagerment prior to the murders. He KNEW that she was failing to take care of the house, the kids or herself, and still he had her home school them to prove his piety to some itinerant preacher. And they had lived in a school bus for years prior, to prove the same thing. The day of the murders, a cop was waiting on the porch to stop him from going into the house as the coroner was still examining the bodies. The cop asked if he would like a glass of water to drink, as he got a bit woozy following the information that all of the children were involved. Husband replies, "Yes, if you can find a clean glass." It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that mom is totally incapable when there is not a clean glass in the house....Oh, wait... he is a rocket scientist.:selfbonk:

Tie both their tubes, put him on trial, her in treatment. Pray for the repose of the souls of the children, who died in confusion and terror.

morte, LPN, LVN · Jul 8, 2006

calling the police/husband, after the fact, does not prove that she knew what she did was wrong...only that these entities would handle the situation from that point.....age of accountability....i presume around seven? so to accomplish saving her children from hell (per the preacher) they had to die before that......and why wasnt the father charged with neglect/abuse?....the point of being an ACCESSORY is that YOU didnt do it....but assisted/were complicite in..........

Sassy5d · Jul 8, 2006

This has been a very interesting thread... If I had more time on my hands I really wish I could read the entire thing.. but I noticed from the parts that I skimmed it was alot of repetition.. i.e alot of folks having the same views on things.

My 2 cents, and not that it's worth anything... What was done.. it's over and done with.. All I can do is morn for the loss of innocent life. IMO society failed that woman..

This situation upsets me for several reasons.. One reason for me is that I myself dealed with ppd after the birth of my second child.. I still have some days where it's hard to deal with things but all and all.. Things are waaaay better then they were when my baby was born.

I've never been clinically depressed.. With my first baby I had nothing more then a little baby blues from sleep deprevation.. After my son was born.. I myself went from being a happy go lucky, calm rational optimistic person (and a nurse taha) to a paranoid, angry, irrational and not so nice person.

I could not hold my son in the kitchen.. There were knives and sissors.. I was plagued with all these "Visions" of terrible things happening to him.. Getting into car accidents, drowning in the tub while I bathe him, I could go on and on.. and this was constantly going through my mind. I knew I'd never do any of the things I had "visions" of.. but it was the fact that I loved this little boy so much and I couldn't stop the thoughts.. It took everything I had to go to the doctors, feel like a total crazy idiot and tell him what was going on with me... Amazingly.. It took just about 1 month of Zoloft, a baby sleeping through the night and a little more help from friends and family to get me out of that horrible funk...

I know the media likes to skew things.. I don't know all the details... but a part of me wonders if she didn't do what she did to make the thoughts stop.. I can't for the life of me imagine what life was like in her home.. with what seemed like an unsupportive husband/family/community.. Dealing with what I did with just 1 child was enough for me.

The other part that really bothers me about all of this is the stigma that's attached with ppd... We all know already the stigma that comes with mental illness.. Now the general public associates ppd with Andrea Yates. That does no one any good. I'm a host of a ppd support forum and it shows the number of readers and posters.. Women are scared to get help, scared to talk about this.. and they suffer on and on.. and their kids suffer with an unhappy mom and their partners suffer.... And everyones missing out on what's sapposto be such a wonderful time.

Talk show hosts do segments on ppd and they have 911 calls of women doing horrible horrible things to their children.. So everyone thinks ppd=psychotic baby killing women... Brooke Shields helped a little bit.. but all and all.. the general consensus publically about this is negative.

Oh well just my 2 cents as I said.. As a woman, a mother, a nurse, who struggled with ppd after having my son. Thankfully I had support.. I didn't get treated like a crazy. I got treated like a person who had a real problem.. that I'm sure would have only gotten worse if everyone ignored me and just expected it to go away.

flyingsolo · Jul 8, 2006

I think she is getting a new trial. She is obviously crazy and putting her in jail is not the sensible thing to do. Mothers tend to GIVE their own lives for their children, not take the children's lives--she is, was obviously insane. How a jury could think of her in the same way as of a murderous pervert or some Ted Bundy is just ridiculous. Yes, she premeditated, blah blah, but there was NO motive, and the crime of killing one's children like that, when they are all little, is one of a deranged mind. I just wish she had not been a nurse first. Darn.

nfahren05 · Jul 8, 2006

I think she is getting a new trial. She is obviously crazy and putting her in jail is not the sensible thing to do. Mothers tend to GIVE their own lives for their children, not take the children's lives--she is, was obviously insane. How a jury could think of her in the same way as of a murderous pervert or some Ted Bundy is just ridiculous. Yes, she premeditated, blah blah, but there was NO motive, and the crime of killing one's children like that, when they are all little, is one of a deranged mind. I just wish she had not been a nurse first. Darn.

I think that the jury called this one correctly. While anyone can see that Ms. Yates had a history of serious mental illness, it's also clear that at the time of the killing of her children she understood what she was doing. She knew that what she was doing was both morally wrong and illegal so while she may have been mentally ill, she was not insane. Obviously crazy does not equal legally crazy. I hope Ms. Yates keeps getting her mental health treatment, and I also hope that she keeps getting it in jail.

LydiaNN · Jul 8, 2006

At most, the fact that she called the cops herself indicates that she knew that what she did was illegal. Her stated reasons for doing do not, in my opinion, speak to her ability to comprehend that it was also wrong. She thought she was saving them. It is a sad, sad thing. I'm no lawyer, and I don't understand anything about Texas anyway, but IMHO, she was and is insane. How that plays out in a court of law applying Texas style justice remains to be seen.

southjag22 · Jul 8, 2006

After reading the quick summary from http://crime.about.com/od/current/p/andreayates.htm

I know she was crazy, I just did not realize how crazy she was. On top of that the information the preacher was feeding her about bad children and the devil probably only made it worse. If she made a call after she had drowned her children even if she is psychotic, she obviously realized what she was doing so I believe an insanity plea will be thrown out and she will end up with the death penalty for killing those poor children. I hope that accessory charges are followed through because I think the minister, the mother-in-law, husband and psychiatrist who all knew she was crazy before whether she had children or not should be charged with accessory for murder. I think that she needs to go to prison for life with no parole or the death penalty but regardless she definitely needs psychiatric treatment.

ANnot4me · Jul 8, 2006

I have read this entire thread and some of the attitudes expressed by some posters were shocking. Has anyone ever read "Beloved?" Who knows what kind of world this woman believed she lived in? Even though she knew it was wrong, maybe in her mind and in her reality, she believed her actions to be for the best. She was certainly correct in believing she was not a fit parent. She was not getting the help she needed and probably, to at least some extent, knew that. Perhaps -- in her world -- she was doing the right thing (illegal or not).

She is paying for her actions and I am sure that the punishment society has imposed (punishing people for illness?) is a light sentence compared to what she deals with in her own mind on a daily basis. She sure won't be getting pregnant again in her 70s, so I can't see her as any threat.

America can be a harsh place to live. If you are unemployed or underemployed, then it's your fault. If you are poor, it's your own fault. If you are mentally ill, then it's your own fault. If you don't have access to healthcare, then it's your own fault. If your gay, just shut up or go away. I could go on and on. "What goes on in other peoples' lives is none of my business and I'm not getting involved." America is full of discarded human beings. Our society is not known throughout the world for our compassion and nurses are just people.

My point being, AY and her children are just one group of thousands and thousands who have been let down by her family, friends, healthcare system, church and government. It happens everday. The scarey thing is that the children of some of these people grow up to be our worst nightmare.

blueheaven · Jul 8, 2006

I can remember a particular doctor's wife who went psychotic when she got pregnant. Needless to say, after the baby was born, she had a tubal ligation for her own and any potential future offspring's wellbeing. Yea, Rusty certainly doesn't rate any brownie points from me.

Liddle Noodnik · Jul 8, 2006

Oh well just my 2 cents as I said.. As a woman, a mother, a nurse, who struggled with ppd after having my son. Thankfully I had support.. I didn't get treated like a crazy. I got treated like a person who had a real problem.. that I'm sure would have only gotten worse if everyone ignored me and just expected it to go away.

Wow, God bless you for what you went thru and what you are now giving back - yes good things come out of this stuff sometimes when people are willing to talk, and help ... I have found that to be true with my own MI and my alcoholism and whatever. I can only imagine the helplessness.

When I had my son I almost had him put in foster care, for the inadequacy I felt/depression, and my fear that I would abuse or hurt him somehow. When my ex started coming around to see him a year and 1/2 later, I had that feeling about myself PLUS feared that my ex was doing stuff to him - and paranoid about the daycare etc. So I even thought about getting rid of myself and him to save him from "it all". Was that where Andrea was coming from, saving the kids from herself AND him? The way he treated HER he was probably very controlling/unreasonable with THEM.

Crazy thoughts! I WAS getting help at the time and was able to admit what I felt - that alone helps defuse what is going on inside. If you can speak it out loud, and trust somebody, that is invaluable.

I know people were keeping their eye on me and if I ever felt out of control I made sure I wasn't alone with him. I also got lots of "respite" days/hours so I could pursue my own self-care. I think I did pretty well with him and he has NO DOUBT that he is/was loved and wanted. And I made sure there were plenty of other people around to help reinforce that.

Take care! Glad you spoke up! It reminded me of my experience!

Liddle Noodnik · Jul 8, 2006

Has anyone ever read "Beloved?".

ps - what is "Beloved"?

LADYFLOWER · Jul 8, 2006

Nobody in their right mind could drown any child let alone their own kids. Some very interesting posts on this thread...I don't think I would put this lady in the same catagory as true scum of the earth who deserves death...she is/was very sick and needs some serious help.

I agree with ya, Larry. This is so sad.