Experts say Jayde Poole may have suffered ‘forgotten baby syndrome’ when she left her baby in fatally hot car

A MUM who left her baby in the family car on a hot day before the child died may have been suffering from “forgotten baby syndrome”, expert claims.

Jayde Poole leaves Bendigo court after being committed to trial for manslaughter for the death of her baby Bella after leaving her in a hot car.

A MOTHER who left her five-month-old baby in the family car on a hot day for about two hours before the child died may have been suffering from “forgotten baby syndrome,” a Supreme Court manslaughter trial heard today.

Jayde Susan Poole has been charged with the negligent death of her infant, Bella, at Bendigo on a 30-degree day in 2012 when she failed to remove the baby from a rear seat bassinet after a trip to a local food outlet with another of her three children.

Ms Poole, 29, otherwise described in court as a “good” single mother, accepted “moral responsibility” for the death but has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter, or acting in a criminally negligent way.

Giving evidence via TV monitor from the US, expert witness Dr David Diamond of the Department of Psychology, Cognitive, Neural and Social Division of the University of South Florida, said he knew of about 200 other cases of “forgotten baby syndrome”.

Dr Diamond told the jury although the syndrome was not a medical illness, it would occur because of the separate cognitive aspects of the brain which processed automatic or habitual acts, planning and acting on new memories.

“I don’t consider it a medical condition, because normally when you talk about a medical condition, and you’re talking about some aspect of pathology, where the brain is not functioning properly, and so ‘forgotten baby syndrome’ actually describes a tragic situation, but one that’s really normal brain functioning.” Dr Diamond said.

He said cases, including court prosecutions in the US, had involved parents and carers including doctors, lawyers, teachers and professors.

Often, the syndrome was seen where infants had been placed in rear-facing seats, out of direct sight of the carer responsible for them, as was the case with Bella, the court heard.

“The conditions in this case are very similar to what I have seen in other cases, and in my theorising about how the brain functions ... forgotten baby syndrome.”

He said the brain component processing habits, known as the basal ganglia, is the dominant system that would have been functioning when Ms Poole was driving the short distance, as she often had before, to a local takeaway food outlet.

Ms Poole’s mind would have been on “autopilot” — but the problem arose later because although she had made the trip many times before, Bella did not normally accompany her on the drive.

“What is important too is that ... that drive ordinarily would not have included Bella in the back seat.”

The hippocampus part of the brain remembers new information and the prefrontal cortex allows for planning for future actions, he said.

“We have a habit-based memory system and we have a conscious fact-based memory system that can compete against each other.”

The trial, before Justice Bernard Bongiorno, continues.

Originally published as Experts say Jayde Poole may have suffered ‘forgotten baby syndrome’ when she left her baby in fatally hot car