By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

St. Luke Hospital has not delivered babies for many years, but a baby boy was born Sunday in the hospital’s emergency room — to a 14-year-old mother.

The mother was taken by Marion ambulance about six hours later to Wesley Medical Center, Wichita. The newborn was airlifted there before the mother.

Marion ambulance was first dispatched to St. Luke at 6:11 p.m. Sunday. After the ambulance reported to St. Luke, attendants told dispatchers they would not be able to transfer the patients because the ambulance did not have a needed monitor for the infant.

A LifeSave helicopter ambulance landed at St. Luke at 10:28 p.m. and lifted off for Wesley with the baby 50 minutes later. Marion ambulance arrived at Wesley with the mother at 12:52 a.m.

The state Department for Children and Families was notified because of the age of the mother. Whether the sheriff’s office will be asked to open a criminal investigation is not yet known, Undersheriff Larry Starkey said. Under Kansas law, 14 is below the legal age of consent for sexual relations.