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By CRAIG MURTO . Tin** Newspaper* Staff Writer ; Involuntary manslaughter charges ;have been dropped in Loudoun [County against a Rappahannock County midwife charged in the 1995 death of a baby, because the baby's ; parents could not be located. ; Loudoun County ; Commonwealth's Attorney Bob ■ Anderson on Sept. 4 dropped charges , against 35-year-old Martha Hughes of Huntly, after Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Karin Horwatt and ah investigator flew to Jackson, Miss., in an unsuccessful effort to find the parents, Harrison and Nancy Miner.
Ms. Hughes was charged with a "callous disregard for human life" because of her failure to call for an ambulance at the first sign of trouble while delivering the baby girl in a Middleburg cabin. Court records reveal that the breech birth caused the baby's umbilical cord to compress, cutting off blood flow.
Records state that the baby was bom "unresponsive" and pulseless and that Ms. Hughes administered CPR. Rescue workers arrived approximately 20 minutes after the baby was bom. She was treated briefly at Loudoun Hospital Center before being transported to Fairfax Hospital. The Miners terminated the baby's life support the following day.
"I feel relieved," Ms. Hughes said. "I’m ready to go on with my life. I did * everything I could to save that baby's * life."
Mr. Anderson said that efforts to reach the parents will continue so that charges can again be brought before a grand jury.
"This was not a condemnation of midwifery or an attempt to infringe on people's constitutional rights," he said.
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