Thread by @NBCNews

SPECIAL REPORT: The doctor’s diagnosis: Child abuse. It wasn’t — but CPS took the baby anyway.

An investigation by @NBCNews and @HoustonChron:
nbcnews.to/2AtapwW (1/12)

@HoustonChron The investigation reveals a legal and medical system that sometimes struggles to differentiate accidental injuries from abuse, particularly in cases involving children too young to describe what happened to them. (2/12)

@HoustonChron Physicians intent on protecting the most vulnerable in some instances have overstated the reliability of their findings, using terms such as “100 percent” and “certain” to describe conclusions that usually cannot be proven with absolute confidence. (3/12)

@HoustonChron Child welfare workers, overworked and untrained in complex medical issues, are not always sure how to proceed when the primary evidence against a caregiver comes in the form of a doctor’s note. (4/12)

@HoustonChron Reporters spent 9 months examining more than 40 such cases in Texas, scrutinizing thousands of pages of court transcripts and medical records. 

They spoke with more than 75 attorneys and doctors, and several current and former Child Protective Services employees. (5/12)

@HoustonChron Under this system, children are sometimes taken from seemingly caring parents. 

Among the cases examined by @NBCNews and @HoustonChron: 

(6/12)

@HoustonChron “Please don’t remove my baby,” Ann Marie Timmerman sobbed to an investigator after a child abuse pediatrician suggested her son Tristan had been abused. “Please don’t take him from me.”

A neurosurgeon earlier told her Tristan had a tiny brain bleed and was safe to go home (7/12)

@HoustonChron The problem, says Diane Redleaf, a family law attorney, is some physicians may come to think of themselves as “part of the team” with child welfare workers.

As a result, she says, sometimes the doctors’ testimony “crosses the line between medical opinion and advocacy.” (8/12)

@HoustonChron A @HoustonChron and @NBCNews review of dozens of court transcripts revealed several examples of child abuse pediatricians presenting their opinions with absolute certainty while at other times sharing viewpoints that seemed to go beyond their role as medical experts. (9/12)

@HoustonChron Police investigated the Timmermans, but did not file charges. Tristan was placed in the care of his grandparents.
 
The Timmermans tapped their savings for lawyers.
 
Three outside doctors concluded there was ample reason to doubt Tristan’s injuries were inflicted. (10/12)

@HoustonChron “The idea that I would hurt my child, my baby, is ridiculous,” Tim Timmerman says.

“All it took was one doctor’s opinion, and it almost destroyed my family.”

nbcnews.to/2AtapwW (11/12)

@HoustonChron Because records of child welfare investigations are confidential, there is no way of knowing how often parents lose custody, temporarily or otherwise, based on the opinion of a child abuse doctor.

nbcnews.to/2AtapwW (12/12) #NBCNewsThreads

@HoustonChron Reporters for @NBCNews and the @HoustonChron want to better understand the role physicians play in the child welfare system nationally.

Share your story here: nbcnews.to/2kTRaZc