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Rushing to get her three older children to school Thursday, a Meade County nurse decided to skip first taking her baby to day care as she normally did.

The last-minute change in routine proved fatal for the 11-month-old boy, authorities said yesterday.

The mother forgot to drop the child off at day care, instead going to work and leaving him in her sport-utility vehicle in downtown Brandenburg, where he died, apparently of heat stroke, authorities said.

The woman, Anna Novak, is unlikely to be charged, although the investigator's findings still must be reviewed, Meade County Commonwealth's Attorney Kenton Smith said.

"We're going to look at it in a real sensitive manner,'' said Smith, adding that he is acquainted with Novak. "I don't know what we're going to gain by prosecuting her.''

After Novak spent the day at work checking schoolchildren for scoliosis, or curvature of the spine, she found her baby dead after talking to the boy's grandmother, authorities said. The grandmother was supposed to pick him up and had called the mother on her phone to ask where he was.

"It's just horrible,'' Smith said. "She's a fine member of the community."

Kentucky State Police declined yesterday to release names, but Smith identified the mother as Novak.

She couldn't be reached yesterday.

Detective Tom Walsh, with the state police at Elizabethtown, said the mother is cooperating, and she and her husband met with investigators for about 90 minutes Thursday night.

"The mother was totally distraught, in shock,'' he said. "The loss of a child, it doesn't get any worse than that.''

The Meade County baby marks the 33rd child to die this year nationally after being left in a vehicle, according to Janette Fennell, founder and president of Kids And Cars, a Kansas-based safety information and advocacy group.

"This is so tragic,'' Fennell said. "No one thinks this could happen to them.''

Novak's baby was strapped in a car seat in the back, facing the rear, Smith said.

Walsh said the mother parked her SUV in downtown Brandenburg by the busy courthouse while she went to work. Apparently no one noticed the baby inside because the SUV sits high off the ground and has tinted windows, he said.

Walsh said Thursday's air temperature reached about 72 degrees, and Walsh estimated the temperature in the SUV reached 100 degrees in the unshaded parking lot. A state medical examiner performed an autopsy yesterday and determined the baby probably died of hyperthermia, or extremely high body temperature, Walsh said.

After discovering the child in the car and unresponsive, the mother attempted to resuscitate him and called for help, Walsh said.

He said police believe the child was in the vehicle about 10 hours before he was found.

Fennell said such events are devastating to families.

"These are people who don't mean for any harm to befall their children,'' she said.

Fennell said it's not uncommon for a rushed parent to forget a child — especially if the child is strapped in a car seat facing backward in the back seat, as recommended for safety. Often the child falls asleep in the car seat.

Another factor appears to be when the parent does not follow the usual routine — such as a change in schedule or the father taking the child to day care when the mother usually does, she said.

Fennell said her group is pushing for federal legislation to require devices that would alert parents when a child is left in a car — perhaps through an alarm that sounds when a seat belt holding the car seat is left buckled.

SAFETY TIPS

Kids and Cars offers these car-seat tips:

Always "look and lock." Look in the back seat before you lock the car. It might help to leave a needed item — such as a purse or cell phone — in the back seat.

Keep a large stuffed animal in the car seat, and when you place the child in the seat put the stuffed animal up front as a reminder.

Arrange with the day-care provider or baby-sitter to call if the child doesn't arrive as scheduled. Leave all numbers where you can be reached.

For more information, visit the Web site: www.kidsandcars.org

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