Local : Santa Ana Child Feared Brain Dead

Doctors were conducting neurological tests today to determine if a 13-month-old girl who was beaten with a champagne bottle was brain dead, a hospital spokesman said. Results are expected later today.

Natalie Alexandra Lynch was in extremely critical condition today in the pediatric intensive care unit at Western Medical Center, said Dr. Donald Dicus, vice president of medical affairs.

The infant was found at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in the arms of her dead mother, Helen Lynch, 35, who also had been beaten. Joseph Peter Lynch, 43, admitted to police that he repeatedly beat his wife and daughter with an empty bottle inside the couple’s Santa Ana condominium. Lynch, an engineer, was in Orange County Jail on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.