Spontaneous births into toilets

Since inception of the Dade County Medical Examiner Department in 1956 and the end of 1982 a total of 18 spontaneous births into toilets were investigated. A retrospective review of these cases revealed a high degree of maternal denial of pregnancy and refusal of responsibility for the fetus by primiparous mothers of term births, the instances of most questionable manner of death. A consideration in the examination of these natal deaths should be investigation of maternal postnatal behavior along with the circumstances of birth and autopsy findings.