A Lab Test That Experts Liken to a Witch Trial Is Helping Send Women to Prison for Murder

October 9, 2023

(ProPublica) – If the lungs floated, the theory behind the test holds, the baby likely was born alive. If they sank, the baby likely was stillborn. “A very simple premise,” the assistant medical examiner later testified. The lungs floated — and the mother was charged with murder.

In investigations across the country, the lung float test has emerged as a barometer of sorts to help determine if a mother suffered the devastating loss of a stillbirth or if she murdered her baby who was born alive. (Read More)