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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Melissa Ann Rowland threatened hospital employees and warned she would "cut the throat" of one worker as she repeatedly ignored doctors' advice to undergo a Caesarean section to save her babies, police records show.
Rowland, 28, has been charged with murder for repeatedly avoiding the surgery. She eventually gave birth by C-section to twins, one of which was stillborn.
In the days before giving birth, Rowland threatened to cut the throat of a hospital employee, threw a telephone at another, and threatened to bring a gun to a hospital as she went from one hospital to another before finally agreeing to the C-section in January, the records show.
The police documents were first reported Wednesday by The Salt Lake Tribune.
Rowland's attorney, Michael Sikora, did not return a phone call seeking comment. He has previously declined to discuss the case with the media, but has said Rowland -- who has denied the murder charge -- suffers from mental illness.
On Jan. 8, LDS Hospital contacted the Salt Lake City Police Department, claiming that Rowland called them threatening to show up with a gun. The hospital's director of security said she had caused trouble there before and they were seeking a restraining order against her, the records indicate.
The same day, police received a call from another hospital, Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, where a doctor had told Rowland she needed an emergency C-section.
The report states Rowland became "very angry and threw a telephone at one of the employees." She called the hospital three times that day, allegedly threatening to "cut the throat" of an employee and saying, "Revenge is sweet, I'll be back." The hospital's security officer told police that Rowland appeared to have a mental problem.
On Jan. 13, Rowland went to a hospital in West Valley City, where she eventually consented to surgery. The surviving baby, who has been adopted, required oxygen, antibiotics and an IV and was later found to have cocaine and alcohol in her system, prosecutors said.
Rowland has been charged with one felony count of murder for acting with "depraved indifference to human life." Charging documents show that Rowland sought medical attention on four different occasions between Dec. 25, 2003 and Jan. 9, before eventually consenting to emergency surgery four days later.
Court documents show Rowland visited LDS Hospital and Salt Lake Regional Hospital on Jan. 2, but make no mention of a visit on Jan. 8, the date cited in the police records.
Women's advocacy groups have criticized prosecutors for targeting a poor, possibly mentally ill woman. Supporters say Rowland has the right to make her own medical choices and that the murder charge is a backdoor effort to strengthen fetal rights.
Prosecutors have denied the case is about abortion rights and have called Rowland "callous and indifferent."
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
