Baby Doe Screening Brings Law, Film, and Nursing Together
On September 24, CSU Law’s Center for Health Law & Policy and Criminal Justice Center partnered with Cleveland State’s School of Film & Media Arts to host a screening of Baby Doe in the Moot Courtroom.
The documentary tells the story of Gail Ritchey, who grew up in a conservative Christian community in rural Ohio and, thirty years ago, gave birth alone and left her newborn in the woods. Now a mother of three, she saw her life upended when DNA evidence tied her to the decades-old “Geauga’s Child” case, leaving her facing a possible life sentence.
A panel drawn from across campus and beyond followed the film, examining the intersection of criminal law, reproductive rights, and maternal mental health:
- Jessica Earnshaw, the film’s producer
- Professor James Ewing, Clinical Professor of Law and Director of CSU Law’s Prosecutor Program, offering a criminal justice perspective
- Dr. Heather Rice, PhD, CPNP-PC, PMHS, FAAN, of the School of Nursing in Cleveland State’s College of Health, speaking on maternal mental health
CSU Law student Rachel Revehl, secretary of the Health Law Society, moderated, drawing on her background in journalism. Professor Laura Hoffman, co-director of the Center for Health Law & Policy, organized the evening, which was free and open to the public and closed with a reception.
The partnership reflects what makes Cleveland State distinctive: law, film, and health faculty and students working side by side on questions that no single discipline can answer alone.