Kasey Dischman

A Butler County woman who intended to sue the county and the Butler County Prison will be withdrawing her lawsuit, her attorney revealed Thursday.

Attorney J. Lansing Hills told the Eagle during a phone interview that the lawsuit filed on behalf of Kasey R. Dischman, 30, of Butler, who was charged with endangering not only her unborn child after allegedly overdosing while seven months pregnant but also her 8-year-old daughter, was a moot point since his client has been released on house arrest.

Hills said he filed the writ of summons informing the county and the jail, including Warden Joe Demore and Butler County employee Justin Baptiste, of the intended court action because Dischman was going to be denied child visitation while at the county facility.

“She was allowed court-appointed visits with the children on a monthly basis in the jail,” Hills said.

The allegations are that while she was allowed two of these visits, after the felony aggravated assault of an unborn child charge was dismissed by Judge William Shaffer, the “jail would no longer be providing visitation with the children,” Hills said.

Dischman was charged in June with felony aggravated assault of an unborn child following her alleged June 22 overdose, which resulted in an emergency cesarean section and her baby being prematurely delivered.

Three additional charges were later added by the prosecution — misdemeanor endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and possession of a controlled substance. Those charges were based on evidence that Dischman's 8-year-old daughter also allegedly was present in the house at the time of the overdose, and that a hypodermic needle was found there.

Shaffer released Dischman into pretrial supervision, including house arrest with electronic monitoring Tuesday, making the lawsuit unnecessary, Hills said.

“Now that she's out, there is no more need,” he said. “We will be withdrawing the suit.”

The felony charge remains on appeal with the state Superior Court after the Butler County District Attorney's Office challenged Shaffer's earlier decision to dismiss that charge.

Shaffer, in his previous order, said prosecutors were overreaching in their attempt to charge Dischman with aggravated assault using the state's Crimes Against the Unborn Child Act. He said Dischman was clearly protected from prosecution by a clause in the law that exempts pregnant women from prosecution for crimes against their unborn children.

The case remains inactive pending that appeal.

Dischman was charged after police said she allegedly injected a bag of heroin found beneath her couch, overdosed on the floor of her bathroom and was later found by her boyfriend, who called 911.

She was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital, where she went into cardiac arrest before being flown to UPMC Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh and subsequently placed on a ventilator. While there, blood work determined that opioids were in her system and she was then transferred to Magee-Women's Hospital of UPMC in Pittsburgh, where doctors performed the emergency C-section.

Hills said he was unable to comment on the condition of the child.