Pediatric Child Abuse “Experts” are NOT Experts in Anything
A common denominator in many of the cases of medical kidnapping that we have covered at Health Impact News is the presence of a Child Abuse Specialist doctor. Time and again we have reported stories where a parent takes a child to a hospital for one reason or another, only to find themselves accused of child abuse by a Child Abuse Pediatrician, even when there are real medical conditions present. Once that accusation is made, doctors almost universally stop looking for any other explanation for a child's symptoms, sometimes jeopardizing the health of the child doctors are supposed to be helping. The child is usually separated from his or her parents and is frequently placed in the care of strangers - a practice that, in itself, is harmful to children. Parents tend to assume that the doctors are concerned about finding out what is wrong with their child. They do not expect that they may encounter a doctor whose role aligns more with prosecutors and police officers than it does with the practice of medicine. Defense attorneys in Virginia have recently discovered what could be termed an "unholy alliance" between prosecutors and a child abuse team at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters (CHKD) in Norfolk. According to the Daily Press, the Virginia attorneys are concerned that: "the agreement — which they learned of only recently — makes CHKD doctors part of the “prosecution team” rather than truly independent experts, which they fear could tip the scales of justice." The contracted agreement has been in place since, at least, 2013 in that location. How many other similar contracts exist around the country? Such an agreement could provide a partial explanation for troubling practices that many families have encountered when taking their children to their local children's hospitals where they are medically kidnapped.