DUCK RIVER, Tenn. -- Hickman County family members of a woman who is accused of trying to poison her hospitalized infant son said they are shocked and confused about the allegations.
Amber Brewington of Duck River, Tenn., is accused of repeatedly injecting salt water into her hospitalized 4-month-old son's feeding tube in what she claimed were attempts to speed up the death of a suffering child, police said.
The child's grandfather, Clarence Jenkins, said Brewington has bipolar disorder.
After the arrest, he said Brewington has become nervous and confused by the allegations.
"She's totally scared, confused and has no idea what's happening to her," Jenkins said.
Jenkins said he believes that someone would have had to tell her how to inject salt water into her child's feeding tube because he doesn't think she is capable of doing this by herself.
"If she did it at all, then she honestly believed she was helping him and she had been told that would help him," he said.
The baby, Noah King, went to the hospital for a case of salmonella, was treated for dehydration and had seizures and a stroke. Brewington's brother said she had been up and down emotionally since the baby became sick.
Brewington's relatives said doctors told them the baby contracted salmonella before he was born.
Brewington told Pittsburgh investigators that her son became severely ill in May and later suffered possible brain damage. The Associated Press reported that police believe the boy's medical problems were caused entirely by his mother.
King remained in critical condition Wednesday with sodium poisoning at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. On Thursday, Jenkins said the baby was doing better.
"She has been by him day and night, 24-7. She's not been home. She's had to bathe in sinks," Jenkins said.
Brewington, 21, was charged with one count of attempted homicide after telling police she had injected her son with salt water five or six times in Tennessee and Pennsylvania hospitals. She said she was suffering from severe postpartum depression.
A hospital worker called police late Tuesday after a nurse reported seeing Brewington disconnect the boy's feeding tube. Brewington was taken into custody at the hospital with a pink camouflage backpack that had a large container of Morton salt, two bottles filled with salt water and a plastic syringe, police said.
Brewington told police that King was admitted to a hospital in Columbia, Tenn., in May and was later transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where the boy suffered unexplained seizures and possible brain damage.
While at the Nashville hospital, Brewington "gave her infant son four to five full syringes of high volume salt water in attempts to speed up his death," police wrote in an affidavit. "Amber felt that she did not wish to see her son suffer."
Jenkins said he knows Brewington didn't say that she was trying to speed up Noah's death, but he said she may have told detectives she was trying to help Noah get to heaven. He said Brewington would say whatever she could to get someone off her back.
Jenkins said that for Brewington, death and heaven are completely different.
"Speeding up his death is like, 'I'm trying to kill him.' Trying to help him get to heaven is like, 'I'm trying to help him,'" Jenkins said.
King was transferred to the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh on July 9. Upon arrival, he had one of the highest recorded levels of sodium, even for an adult, according to the affidavit.
Brewington admitted giving him another syringe of salt water on Sunday, though she denied she was trying to do it again when she was caught by the nurse Tuesday, police said.
Pittsburgh Police Cmdr. Thomas Stangrecki, however, said Wednesday: "We believe last night was another attempt to deliver more salt water or sodium to her child."
Investigators believe all Noah King's illnesses were "related to what she's done," Stangrecki said. "But we have to follow up with all the medical facilities that he's been at ... and try to make that determination of whether he was sick as part of an illness or from ingesting sodium."
Stangrecki said the baby's health deteriorated after his mother visited him on Sunday and again on Tuesday night.
Brewington also was charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. She remained in custody on Thursday.
Paula Baker, Brewington's next-door neighbor in Duck River, Tenn., recalled that Noah got sick a few weeks after he was born in March. He was taken to a local hospital suffering from dehydration and other related ailments.
"He was a healthy baby, a happy baby and then all of a sudden he got sick," Baker said.
Another neighbor, Paula Thurman, said she was doing everything she could to help Brewington deal with her son's illness. She said she was shocked to find out police said Brewington was doing everything she could to kill him.
"Me and my sister, we've helped them and give them money and carried them snacks up to Vanderbilt," she said.
The boy's father has been questioned, but is not suspected of wrongdoing and faces no charges, Stangrecki said. Brewington has two children with him and a third child by another man, Stangrecki said.
Authorities in Hickman County, Tenn., are aware of the case and Brewington's two other children are being cared for by a relative, said Rob Johnson, a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Children's Services.
Children's Hospital called the incident tragic, saying the baby's problem was quickly diagnosed and police immediately notified. "Children's experts are continuing to work closely with police in this ongoing investigation," the hospital said in a statement.
A Vanderbilt University Medical Center spokesman, John Howser, declined to discuss the boy's care in detail, saying only that King had been treated there for a "documented, definitive diagnosis."
"Because this patient was experiencing ongoing health complications related to this diagnosis a transfer to the Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh was arranged due to their experience in treating patients with this type of disease," Howser said.
Children suffering from high levels of sodium in their blood are at high-risk for permanent brain damage, doctors said Friday.
The doctors, all specialists in children's health, said high levels of salt cause the brain to shrink and cells to burst, leading to seizures, brain bleeding and even coma -- all injuries that can lead to permanent damage.
None of the doctors are directly involved with the case of Noah King, an infant from Tennessee whose mother, Amber Brewington, has been arrested in Pittsburgh on charges she injected him at least five times with salt water.
But all agreed that the level of sodium Noah had when he arrived at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh -- 215 units per deciliter -- was well above normal levels of about 135 to 145, and could not have been caused by any natural illness. Noah remains in critical condition.
"Death is a possibility of high serum sodiums, and the higher the sodium, the greater the chance of permanent neurological injury or death," said Dr. Basil Zitelli, a pediatrician at the hospital.
Zitelli said a child suffering from naturally occurring high sodium levels would have symptoms related to other diseases, such as faulty kidney functioning, weight loss or prolonged vomiting or diarrhea.
"A child who is just ingesting sodium wouldn't have these signs, so it would be suspicious," Zitelli said.
There are several conditions that can cause high levels of sodium in the blood, including severe, long-term diarrhea and vomiting or diabetes insipidus, an illness in which the kidneys fail to retain water. However, it would be unlikely, if not impossible, for the levels to surpass 200, doctors said.
Case Features Symptoms Of Psychological DisorderCases like this are often linked to a psychological disorder called Munchausen By Proxy. The disorder causes a parent to make their own child sick to get attention, according to doctors.
It's not clear whether that was Brewington's intent, but Nashville psychologist Dr. Katharyn Sherrod said it's a distinct possibility.
"Sometimes it's because the parent wants to be the martyr. They're the parent with a sick child, and the neighbors and family members come by and want to talk with them, console them, bring them meals and do whatever it takes to make them feel better because they're struggling," Sherrod said.
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