Too Cold

A Bronx woman's 2 year old daughter died in their cold apartment - and the mother is blaming it on the lack of heat. Accoding to the Daily News, Jasmine Morales says that her apartment was so cold that she wrapped her baby Jaylee in "a large, heavy fleece blanket in her bassinet," and now she thinks Jaylee suffocated. Morales says she made numerous complaints, including calling 311 and contacting Bronx borough president Adolfo Carrion's office about it, but her building's management company claims that she only made one complaint, and was not there the two times someone showed up to fix the issue. Gothamist thinks this is terrible, but the building's management should tread lightly when dealing with a grieving mother.

The ME's office is examining the baby's death. The Daily News rans this photograph of Morales yesterday; she said the Housing Authority gave it to her sister to cover windows, which seemed callous given the child's death, but now it turns out it was in response to a broken window complaint. And the city's heating requirements: Buildings must be heated if it's below 55 degrees during the day (6AM-10PM) and below 40 degrees at night (10PM-6AM).

Photograph from the Daily News

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By Jen Chung in News on January 9, 2006 8:49 AM

Comments [rss]

Lisa

Jack's callous and asinine remarks is most certainly why nature does not allow men to have babies. Although to be fair, I doubt most men are as oblivious as he is. What other options? I'd like to know. Please do tell. I have a similar problem and am very concerned.

I've already complained to the super and confirmed on the housing authority's site the appropriate temps for nighttime. I don't really know what else to do. 55 degrees does seem ridiculously low, especially for an infant. I'm pregnant and now have caught a cold from this. I haven't been anywhere esle as I've been on bed rest.

My main concern is next winter when my baby will be sleeping in this freezing apartment. I'm buying a thermostat, because it feels more likely that at night the heat is turned completely off, rather than turned down to the mininum 55. I do have a small heater but feel uneasy leaving it on all night, not to mention it's more expensive than I can afford right now not working (on bed rest). Also I resent the fact that I already pay for the priviledge of having adequate heat incorporated in my rent, which goes up evey year.

If it were just me, I wouldn't care, but 55 degress at night for an infant seem unreasonable and inadequate. One of the main reasons this concerns me is SIDs (sudden infant death syndrome for those who didn't know), which has been associated with too much bedding/covers, thereby causing the baby to suffocate. This sounds very likely what happened to this woman's child. She may not have even known about the dangers of wrapping the baby up in too much bedding and didn't see any other options. I can't believe that this woman cried out for help (both from the landlord/super, etc. and the housing authority) and after they failed to rectify the situation, eveyone blames the woman. How many times does it take to complain, especially without any retaliation from the landlord/super. It seems you have put up a huge fight to get anything done, and even then it's not always effective. Sometimes, it even backfires. It's a tight rope to walk. And when they came for an inspection, like most people, she was very likely at work. What is she supposed to do, take the week off and wait for their chance arrival? I don't recall the housing authority ever making an appointment with the tennant in regards to when they are coming.

This was a tragic and unnecessary event. I think the nyc housing authority is to ultimately responsible. They did not respond appropriately. Furthermore, the city of NY should be liable for not having sticter laws concerning infants and elderely people. If the city does not step in, their is not assurance that landlords will comply with a standard that is not in their own best interests (costs). And with the current system their is not adequate way to determine whether the landlord/super is complying with the mininum requirements. They are certainly notified when their is going to be an inspection, and it is quite convenient to turn up the heat for the impedning inspection, then turn it down again as soon as it's complete. I feel sure this has happened in my case. By the way, I'm not the only one to ever complain. My elderely neighbor has complained on several occasions, but the super merely invalidates him by saying he's old. We had a former neighbor who had complained before, but they've since moved.

They should require thermostats in every apartment (like they do fire alarms/carbon monoxide detectors), where the thermostats record by memory the temps. That way, when the inspectors arrive, their will be no discrepancy as to what the temps have really been at any given time (or at least for the past few weeks in question).

Samantha T

The city's minimum heat requirement for the nighttime (55 degrees)seems ridiculously low to me.

Jack

Yeah, I suffocated my baby. Its the heats fault. Its really sad and pathetic. Parents should learn to take responsibility for their own actions. If its too cold, you have other options than suffocating your child. I expect this on Law and Order soon.