PHOTO CAPTION: "Seen in April 2016, Lehigh Valley Hospital-17th Street at 1627 W. Chew St. in Allentown is home to the John Van Brakle Child Advocacy Center that investigates cases of suspected child abuse across Lehigh and Northampton counties."
GIST: "Lawsuits continue to pile up against a Lehigh Valley doctor from parents who say the doctor falsely accused them of abusing their children.
Twenty-two families have either sued Dr. Debra Esernio-Jenssen or filed notice of intent to sue her in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
Most of the parents are represented by attorney Francis Malofiy of Philadelphia. He filed a lawsuit Feb. 13 on behalf of 12 families, all of whom claim Esernio-Jenssen “made false accusations of child abuse against innocent parents, then refused to withdraw or correct these accusations when confronted with their falsity.”
Esernio-Jenssen was working for Lehigh Valley Health Network and was medical director of the John Van Brakle Child Advocacy Center at the time of the allegations. She was removed from the post in September 2023.
Lehigh Valley Health Network spokesman Brian Downs said his health network doesn’t comment on pending litigation. He said the health network takes child abuse allegations seriously.
“Early recognition of abuse can be lifesaving and our clinicians remain committed to caring for and protecting our patients,” Downs said.
Many of the 12 families were falsely accused of Munchausen syndrome by proxy during the 10 years Esernio-Jenssen ran the child advocacy center, according to the lawsuit. It’s a rare condition where parents are accused of making up illnesses or causing illnesses to reinforce their caregiver status.
Some parents were falsely accused of shaking their babies, breaking their bones or sexually abusing them, the lawsuit says.
The allegations resulted in children being removed from their parents, who had to fight in court to regain custody.
The lawsuit characterizes Esernio-Jenssen as a “bully and an autocrat,” and says other doctors were afraid to contradict her conclusions for fear they’d be facilitating child abuse. The lawsuit says Lehigh Valley Health Network knew about Esernio-Jenssen’s pattern of behavior but failed to stop it.
The lawsuit was filed in Philadelphia due to Lehigh Valley Health Network’s collaborations with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and with St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. Both of those hospitals are in Philadelphia. A spokesperson for Tower Health, the parent company for St. Christopher’s, said that health network does not comment on pending litigation. A message left with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia wasn’t immediately returned.
Malofiy filed a notice of intent to sue on Feb. 16 on behalf of seven more families. A notice of intent to sue is a placeholder reserving the right to file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires.
The basis of Malofiy’s notice of intent to sue isn’t clear. Malofiy didn’t respond to messages seeking comment. The notice is filed against Esernio-Jenssen and Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Philadelphia attorney Thomas Bosworth filed three separate lawsuits in January on behalf of parents against Esernio-Jenssen and Lehigh Valley Health Network.
Tyler Mackie-Stuber and Hailey Stuber of Whitehall Township say they lost custody of their baby for a year due to Esernio-Jenssen’s misdiagnosis, according to their lawsuit.
Melissa and William Schafer of Easton say that for an unspecified number of weeks they were barred from being with their baby unless they were under the supervision of a Lehigh County social worker, according to their lawsuit.
Amy Suranofsky says she lost custody of her five children because Esernio-Jenssen accused her of abusing her youngest child. Suranofsky, of Moore Township, lost custody of four of her children for four years, her lawsuit says. She has yet to regain custody of her youngest son, the suit says."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.pennlive.com/news/2024/02/15-families-sue-pa-doctor-after-falsely-being-accused-of-child-abuse.htmlPUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater's attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it's the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-12348801
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