The Consequences of Modern Ignorance
I think you can thank, in part, the American Dermatological Association for this outrage and others like it. I’ll get to identifying the other perpetrators later, below.
On June 3, 2010 my five and a half week old daughter was introduced to "child protection" in a hospital in a local hospital by diagnosing her as being a victim of child abuse. I brought my new born daughter to the hospital, after she woke up screaming in pain when i moved her arm. Upon multiple x-rays we found out that she had a fracture in her right arm that had a transverse configuration, without any evidence of external injury (we later learned that a transverse configuration is a typical fracture morphology in a pathologically fragile bone). Not understanding how this could have happened to my daughter, my boyfriend and I had no explanation for the injury.
Apparently because of the injury and our inability to explain how it happened, the doctors suspected child abuse and contacted the child abuse team who sent social workers to the hospital to interview us. After several hours of questioning, they transferred us to another hospital where we were immediately admitted to the child protection department. After further x-rays and bone scans the hospital found multiple micro fractures throughout my daughter’s body, and a slight bilateral subdural hematoma. […]
After careful and thorough review of ALL medical reports he saw that my daughter was suffering from a metabolic bone disease which he diagnosed as INFANTILE RICKETS in the state of healing, and that her bones were in a fragile state. He also stated that my daughters skull showed poor mineralization along the sutures and large areas or poor mineralization in the center portion of the skull plates. In addition the parietal skull was flattened.
As Dr. Ayoud was evaluating my daughters medical reports, he aksed Atty S to suggeste that I go see Dr. Michael Holick, a world renowned endocrinologist. Upon his full evaluation of me, Dr. Holick found me to be suffering from Osteomalacia, essentially the adult form of Rickets, and also possibly Elhers Danlos syndrome which is a genetic deficiency that cross ties to my daughters metabolic bone disease.
There’s the lot more to the story, but the bottom line is her infant was taken from her at 5 weeks which was months ago, and she still does not have her back. Here’s a excerpt from The Vitamin D Council’s Dr. Cannell, which counts for most of his reply. It’s not my normal practice to quote huge swaths, but this is damn important.
A few months ago I discussed an absolutely frightening study. Basically, the study found that about 1/4 of all otherwise normal infants have evidence of infantile rickets while they are still in the womb. If these infants were x-rayed right after birth, I suspect they would be found to have multiple fractures from the very real trauma of coming through the birth canal. That is, it is likely that tens of thousands of infants are being sent home from the hospital with multiple fractures because no one has ever done a study looking for asymptomatic fractures.
As an aside, the editorial that accompanied this study missed the point. Instead of asking for studies to discover what percentage of infants will have broken bones at birth and thus, how many parents are falsely accused of child abuse due to this tragedy, the authors of the editorial simply asked for more money for scientists.
The "we care about kids more than you do" child abuse organizations are simply feeding at the trough of the child abuse industry. According to the late Dr. Richard Gardner, the reason for increasing false allegations can be rationally explained. "There’s a complex network of social workers, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officials that actually encourages charges of child abuse — whether they are reasonable or not."
Dr. Gardner was referring to the fact that the Mondale Act of 1974 is responsible for the dramatic increase in child abuse charges because it affords full liability protection for the child abuse industry. They can do the most egregious and wanton things to the children in their care, and their parents, without fear that they will face civil liability charges. The Mondale Act indemnified the child abuse industry, and populated it with people whose livelihoods depend on bringing more and more allegations into the system. Your daughter is simply putting food on someone’s plate.
The child abuse industry was behind the epidemic of "recovered memories" of child abuse in the 1990s and howled when judges started returning malpractice verdicts against recovered memory doctors, which quickly dried up that particular child abuse industry feeding trough. Now, the bread and butter of the child abuse industry is child physical abuse or battered child syndrome, first described 50 years ago in a seminal paper in JAMA, a paper that caused irreparable harm.
Do not expect this tragedy to be solved soon. Too many mouths are sucking at the trough. Also, the child’s father, the man who abandoned you and his child when you were two months pregnant, is he being paid to take care of his own child? I doubt child protection will tell you but I suspect he is being paid.
For almost 50 years, parents like you have either been sent to jail or had their child taken away or both; we are talking about hundreds of thousands of parents. It is all based on a simple observation loaded with face validity: children with lots of broken bones must have been beaten by someone. Now, it is quite possible that most of those hundreds of thousands of infants were never beaten, never abused, never mistreated, they were misdiagnosed, they simply had infantile rickets.
Actions have consequences. Modern indoor, sheltered life & work, crappy processed foods lacking in quality fat and fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), and hysterical fear of sun exposure all combine to set up a perfect storm of downstream consequences.
Then combine all that with a food, drug, and "health" conglomerate that profits off the most immediate consequences of this nutritional neglect, then throw in a "justice" system — "child abuse industry," as Dr. Cannell rightly labels them — that seems like little more than an incestuous heap of bedfellows on the take, and you do have a very outrageous tragedy.
But hey, it’s only babies getting chewed up, so relax. Nothing to see here. Keep on shaking your heads at Richard’s outrageous, over the top rants.
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I was horrified when I read Cannell’s newsletter. Our society is in a very bad way. I’m not so sure I’d be as patient as this mother. Laws that protect these “nanny state do-gooder” leeches need to be abolished.
Laws that protect these “nanny state do-gooder” leeches need to be abolished.
The “law” doesn’t protect them, it just prevents obtaining something approximating justice via the civil court system. Other means are ALWAYS available. Personally, I would exercise one of them.
This is terrible but it is now a familiar theme with our nanny state government. This goes right up there with Dr. Eades most recent post making me mad as hell.
“There’s a complex network of social workers, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officials that actually encourages charges of child abuse — whether they are reasonable or not.”
To the person with the hammer, everything looks like a nail.
I forwarded this to everyone I knew upon receiving Dr. Cannell’s newsletter this morning: wish I’d waited and accompanied it with your comments though… Much more poignant with the conclusion you provided Richard!!!!
Though it has nothing to do with this case specifically when I was a young teen my father was sent to prison for reasons not related to abuse. However, my mother was urged to let us (her children) speak to a psychologist. For the most part it was pretty normal until the doctor asked if I’d ever been sexually abused. I said “No,” because I had never been abused. He then asked me, “Are you sure, because there are many different kinds of sexual abuse.” Now, I was like 12 or 13 and while I didn’t know half the thing I know now I had a pretty good idea of the basics of sexual abuse and I knew that nothing like that had ever happened. I said, “No, nothing like that ever happened.” He asked again, “Are you sure?” And at that point I had enough, told him I was sure and he was making me uncomfortable. He apologized and said that some of my answers to his questions were troubling and he wanted me to come back for another session. I said I would but upon leaving told my mom I would not be coming back. Even stranger, I talked to my brother and sister later and he did not ask them the same line of sexual abuse questions. It was weird. But it was that experience that basically cemented my distrust for most Medical and Government authorities from that point on. And I know, there’s plenty of psychologists that do good work, but this dude was creepy.
This is a bit tangential but related to child abuse and succeeding posts.
Many years ago Harper’s Magazine ran an article titled “From the Mouths of Babes” about the McMartin preschool incident where, if I recall, several adults did serious jail time based on children’s testimony of sexual acts going on at the preschool
Only years later did many realize that the children had been “led” in questioning by eager, unskilled, and perhaps unscrupulous counselors and investigators.
Bottom line was everyone assumed children don’t lie about these things, but in truth even young children “want to please” and pick up on the desired answers to leading questions.
Supposedly questioning is more skilled today, but it can still take very little to get a supervising adult into very hot water.
I have heard about the same study. I would like to delude myself into believing that a professional would never lead a child going through a rough patch into fabricating a story. However, my rational side believes it without a second thought.
I’m old enough to remember news coverage of the McMartin case, a modern day Salem Witch trial. Five years and millions of dollars later, all of the defendents were acquitted, hardly surprising since the original complaint that spurred the witchhunt came from a mother hospitalized for paranoid schizophrenia. One of the aquitted defendents was jailed during the entire five years that the case was dragged out. So much for one’s Consitutional right to a speedy trial.
Salem witch trial. Good reference. Reminded of the film The Crucible.
Having a child in the 21st century is a scary proposition. How do I afford it? How do I educate the child? How do I keep the child safe, and healthy? …
Well Richard, this is one rant that’s worth it. I would also add that children don’t spend nearly enought time outside playing, exploring as they should. When I was a kid, I spent virtually all day, everyday outside in the warmer months and horror of horrors, with NO suncream! I looked like an Indian squaw with long, dark braided pigtails and brown skin. Those were the days!
BTW, I go commando, so need to get my “panties in a bunch”.
One of the caretakers at my two-year old daughter’s day care asked if I wanted her to slather sunscreen on my daughter in the morning before going outside. I told her we don’t use sunscreen and she said that was cool. I guess I’m lucky that she didn’t turn me in for child abuse. It could come to that folks.
This is seriously a huge fear of mine. What if someone reports me for not using sunscreen? For not vaccinating? For breastfeeding my 2.5 year old? Or anything else that’s well-chosen and beneficial but out of the ordinary?
Horrifying, all of it.
Well, sometimes I do shake my head about what you say. But this thing scared the shit out of me. Wow.
[…] The Consequences of Modern Ignorance […]
This really hit home because I was wrongly taken from my parents by CPS and it took 3 months and all of their life savings, as well everything they could beg or borrow in order to get us back. They finally prevailed but obviously it was an incredibly traumatic experience for our family.
I still remember thinking that the social workers were on such a witch hunt that they wouldn’t let pesky things like the truth get in their way.
And in other news: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-496366?hpt=C2
Will Hollywood please stop this shit? So tired of celebrities telling stupid Americans to stop eating meat. I promise to kick one puppy every time I see a self-righteous vegan say eating meat is the fountain of youth.
don’t kick a puppy, that would be real puppy abuse. Kick the offending vegan instead.
Careful, with a vegetarian’s mineral and calcium deficiencies you may actually break their bones.
And your point is…?
Thank you, Richard, for your reportage. I have nothing to add but slack-jawed amazement at this follow-the-money tale of corruption and bad law and inept medicine.
Educating an unknowing and authority-worshiping populace is the beginning of change, but, my God, what a Sisyphean task in the face of a media that can only serve up “The Doctors” or “Biggest Loser” as good health advice.
Real health care reform is doomed in the face of conventional wisdom and scary-strong food libel laws.
GMO foods, I’m convinced, will do us more harm in another generation or two than any terrorist has ever dreamed of.
Education reform may be coming too late. Our kids rank 25th in the world in science, 20th in math and number 1 in confidence. Lindsey Lohan is national news.
I’m feeling we are doomed, but thank you for passionately pushing the rock up the hill. The fight must go on. We are the resistance.
ew, that literally gave me a weak stomach and goosebumps… seriously… people arent only hurting themselves, but destroying future generations. i for one, being almost 25 and child-bearing, would like to birth healthy children, and lots of them but even finding a ‘mate’ these days who isnt material obsessed, a drunk/drug user, ungodly obese/diabetic, or so overly supplemented with roids from bodybulding is INCREDIBLY HARD.
i refuse to bring a child into the world unless i am confident i can bring that child up healthy. i wish people would just listen and become informed!
It’s been a while since I worked in pediatrics in a hospital (in medical school – so 1996-2000), but in general the cases that involved CPS were not subtle. It wasn’t mysterious multiple fractures (and case presentations that involved multiple fractures were ALWAYS examined for brittle bone disease, vitamin D, and other metabolic issues). It was kids with stab wounds and pitchfork wounds (left mysteriously in the ER without ID and no visits from family! kids with multiple adult human bite wounds, kids beaten to a pulp. Obviously some parents have their babies taken away for no reason, and that should not be allowed to happen. But I wouldn’t say the entire child abuse services industry is a racket. They do important work.
But Emily, if I am to take you at your word and I surely do, do you not paint a picture that any random person off the street could interpret?
I hear you, but CPS knows the law, and their primary focus (at least here in Massachusetts in 2010) is to try to keep families together and to get families resources they need (anger management, psychiatric care, food stamps, rehabilitation.) Also, if there are specific criteria for ERs to mandate CPS involvement (say multiple fractures, for example), then no one slips through the cracks. Everyone has heard of the policeman or firefighter caught driving drunk and let go by the arresting officer, for example. No one who is buddy buddy with the hospital CEO can get away with beating their kid. Emergency services will err on the side of caution if there is a question.
That said, I would say judges can be very pro-Mom and anti-Dad here in Massachusetts (which is not always preferred), though it is not as bad as it was, say, 10 years ago. But I’m wandering far afield here.
@Richard
I would not want your readers to get the impression that the majority of cases where CPS is consulted in the context of multiple unexplained fractures could possibly be explained by undiagnosed rickets. In my professional opinion, that is simply a ridiculous idea.
Any radiologist can tell you the fracture morphology and pattern of distribution in suspected SCAN (suspected child abuse and neglect) is fairly characteristic. Long bone fractures with an implausible mechanism of injury, “corner” metaphyseal fractures and rib fractures in a particular pattern from squeezing are all well described patterns that have little overlap with metabolic bone disease, which despite the evils of the medical establishment, is always something considered by
I have personally diagnosed SCAN numerous times in my career, and in one case I was the prosecution’s chief witness at a custody trial. The child had a fractured humerus and femur and the mother’s story was that her 6 year old adopted child was “clumsy”. She had brought her child (adopted at age 2 from Russia) to the ER multiple times, and claimed that this visit was a result of “encouraging” the child to sit on the toilet, or maybe it was a fall from a height of 3 feet, she wasn’t sure. I testified to the forces required to fracture long bones, as well as the mother’s demeanor and various inconsistent statements she made while we were examining her child. The mother was judicially stripped of custody. The defense attorney (an acquaintance of mine) later confided that in his opinion I had probably saved the girl’s life.
Diagnostic medicine, and especially diagnostic imaging, is an art based on conditional probabilities. The case cited may indeed not have been due to SCAN, but there are many alternative explanations to an alleged misdiagnosis, including both acquired and inherited metabolic disorders. Once again, the idea that most cases of SCAN are cases of unrecognized rickets is absurd to me and I would presume would also be to most physicians trained in imaging.
The existence of a derivative child abuse industry tells us nothing about whether what they are exploiting is a legitimate concern. In my experience it definitely is. In the same way, the existence of a state and judicial system and associated private industry addressing drug and alcohol abuse and drunk driving does not imply that those are exaggerated or bogus issues.
My distaste for the leviathan state in no way blinds me to human nature. Could pure anarcho-capitalist society develop fair, if not infallible, ways to deal with low-life humans propagating the cycle of abuse against their own helpless progeny? Perhaps. But in the meantime the state is the functioning mechanism we have to deal with child abuse and other crimes, and the state is not wrong just because it is the state.
@ Emily
Interesting that your experience is that most cases are obvious and visible on inspection. I have sometimes seen SCAN fractures with no external marks but usually there are bruises, an incoherent story and a completely typical social milieu.
“….is always something considered by clinicians and radiologists” sorry that got cut off.
I’m glad you weighed in with your experise, Kurt.
A curiosity: have you ever seen a case of multiple fractures where you concluded it was rickets or some other bone disorder?
Of course, and I agree: the existence of external bruising is a HUGE red flag – as is the social milieu. I’m a big fan, generally, of profiling.
Here is one review article on differential diagnosis of multiple fractures in infants and young children:
OI – osteogenesis imperfecta is the most common non-accidental cause of multiple fractures. I have made that as a diagnosis and I have diagnosed a few other metabolic causes as well. Outside the university setting, the first and second most common diagnoses presenting with multiple fractures are SCAN and then OI.
Regarding rickets, there are characteristic non-fracture bone changes that usually accompany the multiple fractures and help distinguish it from other causes. I cannot comment specifically on the case you are discussing without seeing images, but rickets with no additional radiographic signs but only multiple fractures would be unusual. I have seen many cases of Rickets from teaching files – the diagnosis was common with agricultural diets before D supplementation- but have only seen a few cases “in the wild” and that was at a large university teaching hospital. It takes quite profound D deficiency to get radiographic changes.
Using Baye’s theorem, one must always consider non-accidental truama (abuse) if it looks like that is what it is. Abuse is unfortunately by far the most common cause of multiple fractures. That is the take-home message here. It is common enough that you should always consider that first, or you will miss the diagnosis.
You know I am no advocate of state power*, but I don’t want your readers to think child abuse is only some made-up problem we can blame on vitamin D deficiency and zealous child welfare.
interests.
*It is a felony for me me to NOT report suspected cases of abuse in my state – you can guess what I think of that!
I’m wondering if a reach out to Dr Cannell might be in order. It sounds to me like competent MD radiologists can certainty get this right.
And thanks, Kurt, for the dose of reality. Sure, the sensational is always going to bring the readers but we don’t want to be stupid and wild eyed around here.
This is one reason I so love comments.
I may look into this more when I have time. We also have to be careful of the “x is the key to all our problems” tendency where x = Vit D, fish oil, carbs, thyroid, body temperature, or whatever else is the element du jour.
Amen, buddy.
God help us from getting religious 🙂
My experience was primarily during a pediatric surgery rotation – thus the stab wounds and bites. We attended the suspected child abuse case conference during all the pediatric rotations – there were some fracture cases presented at those but I did not see pictures of the children, just the x-rays.
I am also libertarian-leaning… And a mandated reporter.
Lordy Mama! Anyone ever tries to take my daughters away, he’d damned well better be packin’.
yea, and time was, Tom, when a guy might say that and everyone knew he meant it and consequently knew he was a guy who could be relied upon in any number of instances.
Today, that kind of talk can land you on a watch list.
Y’know, deference to the authorities
That when seconds count and the cops are only minutes away doesn’t matter to anyone because it’s all about aggregate numbers.
Oh, wait…in tipis case, mighta been better had the cops been a coupla decades away.
I can see it getting to the point where a lot of fathers start to snap and do something violent about it.
I think my husband would honestly take a baseball bat to anyone who tried to take our children, force vaccinate them, or anything else that’s been threatened in the media recently. And he is not violent. But he would do whatever it took to protect our children.
“There’s a complex network of social workers, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officials that actually encourages charges of child abuse — whether they are reasonable or not.”
I remember as a young man, in a fit of insanity I considered working for a public school in California. Before they even decided to interview me, they had me sign a paper committing me to report suspected child abuse with felony penalties for not doing so if something turned up later. This was 20 years ago. I’m sure it’s gotten a lot worse since then.
Richard, over the past 3 days I’ve read your posts… and felt like I was back home where I belong. It’s good to see the old FTA back up and kicking ass.
Uh, oh, now you’ve really motivated me to go over the top. And I have something in mind.
I’m a social worker. It doesn’t benefit me (or the agency I work for) to falsely accuse anyone of child abuse. We barely get enough funding to take care of the kids that we have in state custody. I’m not getting rich either. Let’s not forget the long hours and the hatred that I get most every day.
I’ve spent most of the last two days looking for a foster home willing to accept a sibling group of three. Two LONG days. People TALK about how much they care about kids, but that’s all it is.
I’m certainly glad there are some good ones out there, Patty.
I suppose what irks me the most is that everyone is in a tribe, now. Cops would rather take a pencil in the eye than go against an obviously bad cop. It’s pervasive.
I’d rat out a crooked social worker without blinking an eye. I do what I do be cause I used to be that abused kid.
Its not just child abuse but false rape allegations. I know a guy who was sent to gaol falsely for a rape he supposedly committed a long time ago. The woman had a victim complex, had bought a bunch of false rape allegations against a bunch of other guys (but they were all easily shown to be bogus). She had a plethora of counsellers, and rape crisis support workers and so on against a guy who had a useless state appointed solicitor.
Not to impugn the motivations or actions of anyone specifically, but it is telling that the supportive comments are coming from people involved in this so-called “child abuse industry”. I’d be more interested in seeing such defensive or positive remarks from those “serviced” by said industry.
Lawyer Ed Steele, who has defended a bunch of parents against Child “Removal” Services in a couple of states, says — if the CPS shows up at your door — do not answer the door, or if you already have, do NOT let them in the house without a subpoena (show them the child they’re interested in from *inside* the house — with them still outside!). Then, once they’ve gone to get the supoena, pack up the kids, some clothes and food and as much money as you can get your hands on and immediately leave the state (apparently they only have (or is it had?) state and not federal jurisdiction). You can work through lawyers (and try to get your property) from outside the state to get the accusation cleared up. If you’re IN the state — CPS can and will take your child(ren) and KEEP them — you may be fighting for years to get them back, even if you’re shown to be “innocent” And without liability — if your kids are farmed out to abusers, or split up and spread around — CPS DOES. NOT. CARE.
(Yes, I’m sure, there are SOME good workers, fighting a system even more corrupt than the nutritional system folks… but these are your CHILDREN, not some grass-fed meat… And they don’t “just get over” this sort of “abuse.”)
Richard…good job drawing out the reclusive (blog-wise) Dr. Harris. It is always good to hear from him.
[…] Mad Minerva found the quotes to go with this post on ignorance. […]
I understand the sentiment of your post, but, what I would have given, as a child, if someone in “authority” had noticed the physical harm that was done to me by my parents. I never suffered broken bones, but I was beaten, when I was a child (probably, as a toddler, too, given the years I suffered at their adult hands striking my child’s body), with leather belts and wire cords and wooden brushes and any other convenient object that they could find to use to inflict pain on me. As an adult, looking back on it though, if I had been taken out of my parent’s home, from their “care”, there would have been no guarantee that I would have been placed in a foster family that would have not been equally, or more so, physically abusive.
point taken, anon. I know that as a kid I sure witnessed my fair share of punishment that went beyond a paddling.
I think that for very young children corporal punishment can be appropriate, as you cannot reason with them yet, but for their own safety need them to STOP when you say stop, such as running into the street, etc. But certainly the potential for abuse looms.
Big government will always bring things like this into existence.
Government workers do not earn their living by having to produce something valuable and something which people can decide for themselves whether they want or not.
They earn their living through taxation, and since the only way their salaries can be increased is to raise taxes (and/or print money), there will always be a need for excuses to raise taxes.
What could be a better excuse than protecting the children?
– J.S.