A few of the Child Abuse Pediatricians who have been involved in medical kidnapping stories we have covered at Health Impact News. *
Comments by Brian Shilhavy
Editor, Health Impact News
Recently, a judge in Boise, Idaho allegedly ordered a mother in court to have MedicalKidnap.com take down a picture of a Child Abuse Specialist, Dr. Amy Barton, from one of our articles, because publishing her image allegedly is “not acceptable” and violates her clinic’s policies.
The clinic is St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital CARES (Child At Risk Evaluation Services) in Boise, Idaho.
Maybe Judge Courtnie Tucker is not aware that St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital CARES belongs to the National Children’s Alliance, which in 2019 will administer a total of $10,271,000.00 in federal funds under a cooperative agreement with U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, as reporter Allie Parker will explain below.
Because if Judge Tucker is aware of this, then she should certainly understand the First Amendment of the Constitution protects Freedom of Speech and Freedom of the Press to publish and criticize any public servant, meaning anyone receiving public funds.
Child Abuse Pediatricians are not regular doctors. They are not hired by parents, but work together with Child Welfare programs all across the country looking for child abuse, and as such operate more like law enforcement than they do like doctors.
Therefore, if you are being accused of any wrong-doing by a Child Abuse Specialist doctor, you are free to publish criticisms of them, and if any judge tells you otherwise, the judge is on the wrong side of the law.
And this holds true for any other “public servant,” such as law enforcement, social workers, judges, and anyone else working for an entity receiving public funding.
We The People
by Allie Parker
Health Impact News
Civil rights are often violated by physicians and hospitals when accusing a family or individual of child physical or medical abuse. Prosecutors and even some judges are raising the bar by violating the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
It is becoming common knowledge that child abuse pediatricians and child protection services intimidate families and individuals. This intimidation has now entered the courts, which is a place where citizens are supposed to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, have the right to due process, and the right to a fair and speedy trial.
Unfortunately, a recent case in Idaho, clearly shows a Judge, Judge Courtnie Tucker and Prosecutor Shari Dodge, are violating the First Amendment rights of a mother and son. They are also going so far as to violate the First Amendment right of the press.
The US Constitution was made effective in 1789, and starts with “We the People.” According to the US Senate, this affirms that the government and the United States exist for its citizens. [1]
The First Amendment to the Constitution states:
“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
However, in Idaho, Prosecutor Shari Dodge made complaints to Judge Courtnie Tucker about a Facebook page supporting a mother who is allegedly, falsely accused of medical child abuse, claiming the case involves a child (16 years old), and is “possibly” violating the Idaho Child Protection Act.
The Prosecutor also motioned for the interview, done by St. Luke’s Children At Risk Evaluation Services (CARES), which was posted by an advocate and not the mother, be taken down, arguing the department doesn’t make those interviews public and is concerned about how it is being used.
St. Luke’s (CARES) boasts they are the only Idaho-based not-for-profit health system. [2]
It is also part of the National Children’s Alliance, which in 2019 will administer a total of $10,271,000.00 in federal funds under a cooperative agreement with U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. [3]
Judge Tucker agreed with Prosecutor Dodge, and ordered the mother to take down the interview.
However, MedicalKidnap.com, and the articles it publishes, as well as the video, are completely out of the mother’s control
Furthermore, according to Idaho Rules of Family Law, procedure rule 115, “all trials upon the merits shall be conducted in open court and so far as convenient in a regular courtroom.”
The rule continues with “All trials or hearings of any court held before a judge or magistrate assigned thereto, and all judgments and orders issued by such courts shall be deemed to have been done in open court, regardless of the place held.”[4]
On July 16, 2019, Judge Tucker seems to have violated rule 115 of the Idaho Supreme Court Family Law, and violated the US Constitution’s 1st Amendment rights of both the family and the press.
A crowd gathered at the courthouse in support of the family, which included Eric Parker, President of the Real 3%ers of Idaho, who raised the question to the judge asking if a State legislator, also present in support, could stay to witness the proceedings.
A bailiff immediately prevented him from recording, and took away his phone.
The judge ordered everyone out of the court room, and those suspected of recording were taken behind closed doors and made to erase any videos.
See:
Idaho Judge in 16-Year-Old Medical Kidnap Case Orders Video and Picture of Doctor Removed from MedicalKidnap.com as Cell Phones of Supporters are Confiscated
The amount of false allegations of abuse made by child abuse pediatricians is becoming, if not already, an epidemic. This epidemic, in conjunction with the blatant disregard for the Constitutional rights these families and individuals have as citizens of this country, is showing to be a recipe for injustice.
All across the country many judges are overturning Shaken Baby Syndrome convictions, for example, if only one expert witness testified on behalf of the prosecution, such as a Child Abuse Specialist, and the defense had no special witness to present medical evidence to show other reasons why a child may exhibit signs that could be interpreted as abuse, but could be other medical conditions, such as brittle bones with infantile rickets.
The Innocence Project is currently accepting cases in all 50 states where parents or caregivers have been wrongly convicted of child abuse based simply on the testimony of a single doctor, and in most of these cases they are being overturned.
This injustice towards parents is now stemming into the media. When a judge orders public forums such as MedicalKidnap.com to take down a story, they are violating the 1st Amendment.
As servants of the court and government employees, judges, prosecutors and social workers are all public servants, which make them open to any criticism, public or private, according to the 1st amendment of the US Constitution.
This also applies to the child abuse pediatricians. As physicians employed by non-profit hospitals working together with Child Protection Services and local law enforcement are also public servants.
The simple fact these physicians are working hand in hand with child protection departments and law enforcement, which includes receiving funding through contracts from these departments, makes them and the departments funding them open to any and all public criticism according to our First Amendment.
Citizens also have a 1st Amendment right to express their concerns about public employees at a meeting that is otherwise open for public comment. In Moore v. City of Creedmoor, 345 N.C. 356 (1997), the North Carolina Supreme Court recognized a potential claim for a violation of First Amendment rights when the town board refused to allow a citizen to criticize the police chief.
The court held:
“[Citizens] have a right to assert a public complaint concerning the negligence of public officials and to petition the government for redress of grievances…The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the First Amendment guarantees the right to criticize police officers…It should also be noted that once the government has opened a forum-such as a public meeting-to allow direct citizen involvement, it may not discriminate between speakers based upon the content of their speech.” [5]
Whether it is an open forum opened by the government or social media, citizens have the right to criticize these public servants, whether they are doctors, social workers, judges, prosecutors, etc.
Not only should victims criticize the negligence by the physicians, they should also point out any and all violations to their Constitutional rights by the courts. Whether it is the prosecutor or the judge.
It is “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
We are “The People.” The people who established, and are protected by, our Constitution.
Why are so many children being legally kidnapped from families on a daily basis due to one public servants opinion?
It is time “The People” rise up, assert the First Amendment to the Constitution, and speak out against the negligence of the physicians who put these cases in motion, and continue to assert your right to speak out against the prosecutors, judges, and departments that further violate these rights which were set forth to protect citizens from this very thing.
“When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson
About the Author
Allie Parker is a Family Advocate and mother. She is a surviving victim of a false Child Abuse Pediatrician’s accusation. Read her story here.
Learn More about Child Abuse Pediatricians:
Are New Pediatric “Child Abuse Specialists” Causing an Increase in Medical Kidnappings?
Child Abuse Pediatricians: An “Ethically Bankrupt” Profession that Destroys Families
Elite Medical Doctors Seek to Control the Media and Public’s Perception of Child Abuse Specialists
History of Shaken Baby Theories Exposed: How an Elite Group of Pediatric Radiologists Started Medical Kidnapping in the 1940s
References:
- United States Senate, https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/generic/ConstitutionDay.htm
- St. Lukes, https://www.stlukesonline.org/about-st-lukes
- National Children’s Alliance, Annual Report 2018 (pg. 19)
- State of Idaho Judicial Branch Supreme Court, Rule 115, https://isc.idaho.gov/irflp115
- “Criticizing Public Employees in Public”, F. Bluestein (2013)
* Doctors in the image
Top row left to right:
Dr. Susan Lamb – Child Abuse Pediatrician at Palmetto Health Children’s Hospital, Columbia, South Carolina
Dr. Alice Newton, Medical Director of the Child Protection Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Dr. Bethany Mohr, Child Abuse Pediatrics, Mott Children’s Hospital, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Dr. Channing Petrak, Child Abuse Pediatrician and Medical Director of the Pediatric Resource Center, Peoria, Illinois
Dr. Deborah Eve Lowen, Associate Professor of Pediatrics – Director, Center for Child Protection – Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
Dr. Stacy Wood Thomas, Assistant Professor Pediatrics – Brenner Children’s Hospital, Wake Forest Baptist Health, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
2nd Row left to right:
Dr. Nancy Henderson, Child Abuse Pediatrics – Greenville Memorial Hospital – Greenville, South Carolina
Dr. Shannon L. Thompson, Child Abuse Pediatrics – Indiana University Health – Indianapolis, Indiana
Dr. Mary-Fran Crosswell – Child Abuse Specialist- Greenville Memorial Hospital – Greenville, South Carolina
Dr. Amy Barton – Child Abuse Pediatrician – St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital – Boise, Idaho
Dr. Verena Brown – Child Abuse Specialist – Vanderbilt University School of Medicine – Nashville, Tennessee
3rd row left to right:
Dr. Kathryn R. Crowell – Child Abuse Pediatrics – Penn State Center For The Protection of Children Penn State TLC Clinic – Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Dr. Michelle T. Chudow – Chief Physician of the GBMC Center for the Protection of Children – Drexel Univ College of Medicine – Towson, Maryland
Dr. Roberta A. Hibbard – Division Chief, Child Protection Program – Indiana University School of Medicine – Indianapolis, Indiana
Dr. Terra Nicole Frazier – Child Abuse Pediatrician – The Safety, Care & Nurturing (SCAN) program, part of the Division of Child Adversity and Resilience at Children’s Mercy Hosptial – Kansas City, Missouri
Dr. Matthew J. Cox – Child Abuse Pediatrician – St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital – Boise, Idaho
Dr. Carol Berkowitz – Director, Child Abuse Fellowship – Harbor UCLA Medical Center – Los Angeles, California
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