Amber Brewington (2008)

A Tennessee woman charged with injecting salt water into her infant's feeding tube pleaded guilty but mentally ill this morning to aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of children.

Amber Brewington, 23, of Duck River, Tenn., was sentenced by Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Joseph K. Williams III to five to 15 years in prison, with consideration of placement at a mental health facility.

She was originally charged with attempted homicide, but that count was withdrawn at today's guilty plea.

According to the prosecution, Ms. Brewington purposely injected salt water into her son, Noah's, feeding tube while he was at Children's Hospital of UPMC. The boy had previously been hospitalized at Maury Regional Hospital in Columbia, Tenn., then Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, for having dangerously high sodium levels.

Assistant District Attorney Chris Hoffman told Judge Williams that had it not been for Ms. Brewington's actions, the boy would have recovered from his original illness that sent him to the hospital.

"The important thing here is he will never be normal, clearly, from this. And nothing he's suffering from is hereditary," Mr. Hoffman said. "He was born a healthy and normal child."

Mr. Hoffman listed the various medical problems Noah has gone through. They include having a stroke, which left him paralyzed on one side. He has epilepsy and cerebral palsy, he is developmentally delayed, has autism and has no peripheral vision.

The boy, who is now in the process of being adopted by a couple in Tennessee, learned how to walk in October, at 19 months old.

Ms. Brewington's grandmother, who testified on the woman's behalf, told the judge that her granddaughter has bipolar disorder, and that when she's on her medication, she does well.

"I want you to know that my granddaughter is not some kind of monster," said Patricia Jenkins. "She had no malice when she did this."

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