Child-Maltreatment-Research-L (CMRL) List Serve

Message ID: 10616

Date: 2019-12-06

Author:Lisa Colon

Subject:Re: "Medical Child Abuse" expose'

I am happy to see this conversation happening and I hope it can lead to appropriate changes. This is a real issue with real consequences. I know someone who lost both of her children because they said her oldest son was failing to thrive and placed all blame on the parents. Nothing wrong with the younger son, but that made no difference. Turns out the older son had severe health issues and despite being adopted and supposedly receiving better care, passed away from those health issues at the age of 12. The only thing accomplished was breaking up a family and taking away the parent's opportunity to spend those last 7 or 8 years with him. Something has to change. Lisa Colón Doctoral Student IRISE GRA Graduate School of Social Work | University of Denver 2148 S. High Street, Denver, CO, 80208 719.930.7421 (Cell) Pronouns: she/her/hers ­— What’s this? In the spirit of healing, I acknowledge and honor the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the original people of the land upon which University of Denver stands ________________________________ From: bounce-124187750-84400310@list.cornell.edu on behalf of Aaron Robb Sent: Friday, December 6, 2019 9:06 AM To: Child Maltreatment Researcher List (CMRL) Cc: PsyLaw list Subject: Re: "Medical Child Abuse" expose' There is a far cry between deceiving physicians in order to obtain unnecessary medical treatment for a child (which can happen for a number of reasons), having foolish disagreements over proper course of care with physicians (e.g. parents with their University of Google medical degree), and genuine values differences regarding competing courses of appropriate treatment. I'm not sure if "narrowed" or "refined" might be a better choice of words, but certainly there needs to be greater precision in differentiating these issues. We also cannot deny that these cases are happening (I can think of two high-profile cases near me in the last few years[1]; I certainly saw these when I worked as an investigator). We also can't deny that physicians make mistakes, sometimes with profoundly negative outcomes for parents, but the latter problem does not negate the former. AR [1] e.g. https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/10/13/she-claimed-her-son-had-cancer-subjected-him-surgeries-he-wasnt-actually-sick/ https://www.enidnews.com/news/updated-woman-who-lied-about-daughter-s-cancer-gets-prison/article_a7f9a35c-b826-11e7-b4e3-633a82543519.html -- Aaron Robb, Ph.D., LPC-S Forensic Counseling Services http://www.texascounseling.org Mailing Address: 2831 Eldorado Pkwy., Ste. 103-377, Frisco, TX 75033 Phone: 972-360-7437; Fax: 940-343-2601 “Heaven does not give up the winter because people dislike cold. Earth does not give up its expanse because people dislike distance. The superior man does not give up good conduct because the inferior man rails against him. Heaven has a constant way of action, earth has a constant size, and the superior man has a constant personal demonstration of virtue. The superior man pursues the constant principle, but the inferior man calculates results.” – Hsun Tzu from A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, page 119, Translated and Compiled by Wing-Tsit Chan 1963 This e-mail and any attachments contain information from the office of Aaron Robb, Ph.D., LPC-S, and are intended solely for the use of the named recipients. Any dissemination of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you believe you have received this e-mail in error, notify the sender immediately and permanently delete the e-mail, any attachments, and all copies thereof from any drives or storage media and destroy any printouts of the e-mails or attachments. On Fri, Dec 6, 2019 at 8:58 AM Lisa Fontes > wrote: What do people think about this? Some of the most disturbing cases of child abuse that I have seen have involved medical child abuse. Do the criteria need to be narrowed? Would that be the best response? Are there representatives of ISPCAN or APSAC or other national child abuse organizations on this list who could inform us about what the official responses are to these important discussions? Are there researchers of medical child abuse on this list who could shed some light? Respectfully, Lisa Fontes, Ph.D. LFontes@umass.edu ________________________________ From: "Kirk Witherspoon" > To: "PsyLaw list" > Sent: Thursday, December 5, 2019 7:08:07 PM Subject: "Medical Child Abuse" expose' "Medical Child Abuse" expose' attached. Excellent and worth a very careful read. Kirk Witherspoon, PhD Clinical & Forensic Psychologist - IL & IA Sex Offender Evaluator - IL 722 - 23rd Avenue Court Moline, IL 61265-4624 Tel. (309) 762-2922 Fax (309) 762-8394 kirkwitherspoon@mchsi.com

I am happy to see this conversation happening and I hope it can lead to appropriate changes. This is a real issue with real consequences. I know someone who lost both of her children because they said her oldest son was failing to thrive and placed all blame on the parents. Nothing wrong with the younger son, but that made no difference. Turns out the older son had severe health issues and despite being adopted and supposedly receiving better care, passed away from those health issues at the age of 12. The only thing accomplished was breaking up a family and taking away the parent's opportunity to spend those last 7 or 8 years with him. Something has to change. Lisa Colón Doctoral Student IRISE GRA Graduate School of Social Work | University of Denver 2148 S. High Street, Denver, CO, 80208 719.930.7421 (Cell) Pronouns: she/her/hers ­— What’s this? In the spirit of healing, I acknowledge and honor the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, the original people of the land upon which University of Denver stands ________________________________ From: bounce-124187750-84400310list.cornell.edu on behalf of Aaron Robb Sent: Friday, December 6, 2019 9:06 AM To: Child Maltreatment Researcher List (CMRL) Cc: PsyLaw list Subject: Re: "Medical Child Abuse" expose' There is a far cry between deceiving physicians in order to obtain unnecessary medical treatment for a child (which can happen for a number of reasons), having foolish disagreements over proper course of care with physicians (e.g. parents with their University of Google medical degree), and genuine values differences regarding competing courses of appropriate treatment. I'm not sure if "narrowed" or "refined" might be a better choice of words, but certainly there needs to be greater precision in differentiating these issues. We also cannot deny that these cases are happening (I can think of two high-profile cases near me in the last few years[1]; I certainly saw these when I worked as an investigator). We also can't deny that physicians make mistakes, sometimes with profoundly negative outcomes for parents, but the latter problem does not negate the former. AR [1] e.g. https://www.washingtonpost.com/crime-law/2019/10/13/she-claimed-her-son-had-cancer-subjected-him-surgeries-he-wasnt-actually-sick/ https://www.enidnews.com/news/updated-woman-who-lied-about-daughter-s-cancer-gets-prison/article_a7f9a35c-b826-11e7-b4e3-633a82543519.html -- Aaron Robb, Ph.D., LPC-S Forensic Counseling Services http://www.texascounseling.org Mailing Address: 2831 Eldorado Pkwy., Ste. 103-377, Frisco, TX 75033 Phone: 972-360-7437; Fax: 940-343-2601 “Heaven does not give up the winter because people dislike cold. Earth does not give up its expanse because people dislike distance. The superior man does not give up good conduct because the inferior man rails against him. Heaven has a constant way of action, earth has a constant size, and the superior man has a constant personal demonstration of virtue. The superior man pursues the constant principle, but the inferior man calculates results.” – Hsun Tzu from A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, page 119, Translated and Compiled by Wing-Tsit Chan 1963 This e-mail and any attachments contain information from the office of Aaron Robb, Ph.D., LPC-S, and are intended solely for the use of the named recipients. Any dissemination of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you believe you have received this e-mail in error, notify the sender immediately and permanently delete the e-mail, any attachments, and all copies thereof from any drives or storage media and destroy any printouts of the e-mails or attachments. On Fri, Dec 6, 2019 at 8:58 AM Lisa Fontes > wrote: What do people think about this? Some of the most disturbing cases of child abuse that I have seen have involved medical child abuse. Do the criteria need to be narrowed? Would that be the best response? Are there representatives of ISPCAN or APSAC or other national child abuse organizations on this list who could inform us about what the official responses are to these important discussions? Are there researchers of medical child abuse on this list who could shed some light? Respectfully, Lisa Fontes, Ph.D. LFontesumass.edu ________________________________ From: "Kirk Witherspoon" > To: "PsyLaw list" > Sent: Thursday, December 5, 2019 7:08:07 PM Subject: "Medical Child Abuse" expose' "Medical Child Abuse" expose' attached. Excellent and worth a very careful read. Kirk Witherspoon, PhD Clinical & Forensic Psychologist - IL & IA Sex Offender Evaluator - IL 722 - 23rd Avenue Court Moline, IL 61265-4624 Tel. (309) 762-2922 Fax (309) 762-8394 kirkwitherspoonmchsi.com