Credit: AP/file.
Phelps County Regional Medical Center
Rolla, MO (KSDK) - Investigators have completed a preliminary autopsy on a 25-year-old woman who was found dead at the Phelps County Regional Medical Center shortly after giving birth.
The woman, identified as Stephanie Maylee of Rolla, had just given birth at Phelps County Regional Medical Center days prior, but she was no longer a patient.
John Denbo, CEO of Phelps County Regional Medical Center, said Maylee gave birth to her newborn son on Friday, February 10, but had since been released from the hospital. She was coming back as a visitor to check on her newborn son, who had been kept for observation.
Maylee was found dead Monday morning in a hospitality room. She was released Sunday afternoon after giving birth to a boy by C-section, nearly three hours after walking in the hospital on Friday.
Maylee was last seen by hospital staff around 2:30 a.m. Monday. She was found dead more than seven hours later, just before 10 a.m.
The Phelps County Coroner's Office said the preliminary findings of the autopsy revealed Maylee died from an apparent self-induced prescription medication overdose. Further toxicology and pathology results will be forthcoming. No foul play is suspected.
Meanwhile, Denbo said the child is still in the hospital. Missouri's Division of Child Services and the child's grandparents are involved to figure out who will gain custody of the newborn baby.
KSDK