Lawyer whose baby had drugs in system suspended, in treatment

NEW ORLEANS – A lawyer accused of breast-feeding her newborn son when she had cocaine and prescription drugs in her system has been suspended from practicing law by the state’s highest court.
The Louisiana Supreme Court suspended Marcie Swaze Koch of Baton Rouge on an interim basis “pending further orders of this court.”
Koch was arrested Dec. 21 after the drugs showed up in her month-old son’s system. The baby tested positive for cocaine after he was taken to Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center on Dec. 20 with reported fever, seizures and difficulty breathing, the arrest warrant said.
Barbiturates, opiates and benzodiazepine also were found in his system, the warrant said.
Koch, 35, told investigators she takes Oxycontin, an opiate used as a painkiller, and Xanax, or benzodiazepine, which is a sedative. A condition of her $35,000 bond required her to report immediately to a recovery center in Mississippi.
A joint petition for interim suspension filed at the Supreme Court by the Office of Disciplinary Counsel and Koch indicates that she is in treatment.
The petition says the allegations against Koch reflect a potential violation of the state’s rules of professional conduct for lawyers.
Koch was booked on charges of possession/distribution and manufacturing of cocaine, distribution of narcotics to a person under 18 by a person over 25, and negligent injuring.
Koch’s husband, Baton Rouge lawyer Karl Koch, said the day after her arrest that their baby was out of the hospital and had no ill effects from the incident.