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Baby left in trash dies

Baby left in trash dies
By Rebecca Henely

An infant baby girl who was allegedly left in a trash bin at Elmhurst Hospital Center by her 23-year-old mother died Wednesday, nine days after her birth, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.

Dawa Lama, who lives at 65th Street near 37th Road in Woodside, is facing two counts of assault, reckless endangerment, abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of a child in Queens criminal court based on allegations she threw her newborn away soon after giving birth in a hospital bathroom May 10, said Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. Elmhust Hospital Center is located at 79-01 Broadway in Elmhurst.

Lama told police she did it because she “didn’t want her mother to find out,” according to the criminal complaint filed with the DA’s office.

Brown said the grand jury in Queens criminal court will now consider upgraded charges against Lama in light of the infant’s death.

Lama, who was 37 weeks pregnant and due to give birth on May 27, had gone to the hospital May 10 to register for prenatal care when she felt pains and went into labor, Brown said.

She gave birth to a baby girl in the bathroom and then, the DA said, allegedly put her the trash.

Lama left the hospital without telling anyone what had happened and the baby was later found by the hospital’s director of security, the criminal complaint said.

The infant was born without any obvious physical deformities, but was suffering from low oxygen, low blood pressure and brain damage due to the oxygen deprivation, Brown said. She was on life support before she died, he said.

Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.