1/ In October we wrote the story of a mother who lost her daughter after being accused of harming her with medical treatments. There were serious problems with the evidence presented in her case. Now we're reporting on another just like it from Washington: nbcnews.com/news/us-news/h…
2/ Here was the original story on Ajshay James: nbcnews.com/news/us-news/d…
3/ Megan Carter reached out to us after reading it. “After we went through this, I wanted to just crawl away and never talk about it again,” she told me. “But then I was like, this is just going to keep happening.”
Her case is shocking, and so similar to Ajsjay's.
Her case is shocking, and so similar to Ajsjay's.
4/ Megan was separated from her two children for more than 14 months after a child abuse specialist in Tacoma, Washington, accused her of committing a rare form of child maltreatment known as medical child abuse. Same as Ajshay.
5/ As in Ajshay's case, Megan's daughter, Ellie, was born severely premature, at 24 weeks, and as a result suffered from developmental delays and chronic health problems, including breathing and digestive difficulties.
6/ After years of treatment for these issues, a hospital employee came to suspect that the child wasn’t as sick as her mother portrayed. A child abuse pediatrician examined the medical records in 2018 and concluded that Megan had been abusing the girl with excessive treatments.
7/ Although there's no disputing that Ellie was born very ill at 34 weeks, the doctor reported to CPS that the mother's abuse likely had gone on from the time the child was born. Even as she was clinging to life in the NICU.
8/ The doctor even pointed to a touching moment, when NFL star @RSherman_25 came to visit Ellie in the hospital, as evidence that Megan was using her child’s illness to gain attention for herself. The Sherman visit was national news: cbssports.com/nfl/news/watch…
9/ This is where it gets crazy. Following more than a year separated from her children and an 18-day trial, a judge tossed the case after concluding that most of the testimony from the reporting child abuse pediatrician was "conclusory and without supporting factual basis."
10/ Just like we found in Ajshay's case, the child abuse pediatrician had repeatedly overstated or misstated the evidence for her conclusions in Megan's case, the judge found. Read her scathing order here: documentcloud.org/documents/6567…
11/ The doctor's claims that Megan tampered with her daughter’s medicine, that she pushed for needless oxygen treatments and that she made up her child’s feeding difficulties were not supported by records or testimony from physicians who cared for the girl, the judge ruled.
12/ The doctor’s claim that the child “wolfed down” a McDonald’s Happy Meal after Carter was removed from her care was disputed by other witnesses and simply was “not plausible,” the judge wrote, because the child has continued to have legitimate eating struggles.
13/ As for that @RSherman_25 visit? It was hospital staff who invited him to surprise Ellie, the judge wrote, noting that @Mary_Bridge officials promoted video of the moment in marketing materials, including in posts seeking donations for the hospital. facebook.com/watch/?v=10155…
14/ If there was anything to gain from the visit, the judge wrote, “the benefit was gained by the hospital and not the mother.”
15/ Of note: After we contacted @Mary_Bridge for comment on this story, the hospital started deleting many of its postings about the @RSherman_25 visit, but they were clearly still proud of it ...
16/ A staff member even used it in a presentation on how to produce viral content for your organization. Click the slides. The presentation was made in Oct. 2018, 5 months after the hospital reported the visit as evidence that Megan was abusing her child. slideshare.net/seattleinterac…
17/ Megan was reunited with both of her children in June, but only after she and her husband took out loans and borrowed from family members to cover their $300,000 in legal fees. Her children see a therapist to help them with their lingering fears of separation, she said.
18/ Ajshay James is still only permitted to see her daughter two Saturday's per month. nbcnews.com/video/how-a-do…
