ACCESS TO PODCAST:
"When the reporter Dyan Neary attended a county commissioners’ meeting in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, she watched dozens of people step up to the mic to tell harrowing stories about child abuse accusations and family separations. They all claimed that the local hospital had misdiagnosed their children as victims of abuse. Many pointed to a single pediatrician, whose alleged mistakes, they said, had shattered their lives. That meeting was in the summer of 2023; now, at least 27 families in Pennsylvania are suing the doctor, as well as the hospital where it all happened. When Neary investigated the doctor’s past, she found a history of similar complaints spanning three decades and multiple states. Her reporting examined court filings and workplace dramas from New York to Florida to Pennsylvania. And it revealed how this doctor’s controversial career paralleled the rise of a new subspecialty: child abuse pediatrics, a field devoted to detecting — and preventing — child abuse. The Preventionist charts this doctor’s path to Pennsylvania, as well as the profound damage that can result from separating parents and children; the final episode is the unvarnished story of one mother’s struggle to reunite her family after it was torn apart. Her ordeal answers the questions at the heart of child-protection work: What is the cost of a “better safe than sorry” approach? And how should doctors and caseworkers make life-altering judgments in cases where abuse isn’t clear-cut?"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/podcasts/serial-productions-the-preventionist.html
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PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "*Reporter Dyan) Neary’s new podcast, The Preventionist, revisits that meeting and delves into the broader story. The series traces Esernio-Jenssen’s decades-long career across multiple states, exploring how her work — and the field of child abuse pediatrics itself — became the center of an ongoing national debate. Neary’s reporting uncovered a pattern of similar complaints stretching back 30 years, from New York to Florida to Pennsylvania. The final episode follows one mother’s fight to reunite with her children after Esernio-Jenssen’s findings led to their removal — an incident that raises difficult questions about how doctors and caseworkers make life-altering decisions when the signs of abuse are unclear."
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PASSAGE TWO OF THE DAY: "The lawsuits filed last year allege that LVHN hired Esernio-Jenssen in 2014 despite being warned she had been removed from the Child Protection Team at the University of Florida for photographing a naked child who was a witness in a case. Plaintiffs accuse her of separating families, damaging reputations and refusing to retract false abuse findings even when confronted with evidence. “Families were irreparably torn apart because of these accusations and reputations permanently ruined,” one of the filings states. LVHN, which is among nearly 20 defendants listed in the class action suit, has not commented on the litigation. The network has previously defended its doctors, saying they are required by law to report suspicions of child abuse."
STORY: "Podcast investigates years of alleged child abuse misdiagnoses by LVHN doctors" by Isabel Hope, published by The Lehigh Daily, on November 1, 2025. (Isabel Hope is a journalist and website designer based in Bethlehem, PA. She graduated with a degree in journalism from The University of Alabama in 2022, where she served as News Editor of the student newspaper. Isabel has lived in the Lehigh Valley for three years and is passionate about reporting for the communities she now calls home.)
LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa. —GIST: Reporter Dyan Neary attended a Lehigh County commissioners’ meeting in 2023 and watched as dozens of parents said local doctors had falsely accused them of abusing their children and torn their families apart.
Many of the speakers pointed to pediatrician, Dr. Debra Esernio-Jenssen, who at the time led Lehigh Valley Health Network’s John Van Brakle Child Advocacy Center. They said her diagnoses of child abuse — often made with little medical justification — had led to wrongful separations and trauma.
Now, more than two years later, at least 27 families in Pennsylvania are suing Esernio-Jenssen and LVHN, accusing the health network and its former doctor of negligence, fraud and emotional distress.
Neary’s new podcast, The Preventionist, revisits that meeting and delves into the broader story. The series traces Esernio-Jenssen’s decades-long career across multiple states, exploring how her work — and the field of child abuse pediatrics itself — became the center of an ongoing national debate.
Neary’s reporting uncovered a pattern of similar complaints stretching back 30 years, from New York to Florida to Pennsylvania. The final episode follows one mother’s fight to reunite with her children after Esernio-Jenssen’s findings led to their removal — an incident that raises difficult questions about how doctors and caseworkers make life-altering decisions when the signs of abuse are unclear.
Esernio-Jenssen, who began working part time at LVHN in fall 2023, retired from the network in March 2024. Her retirement came months after Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley released a report highlighting what he called a trend of child abuse misdiagnoses under her leadership.
“As Dr. Jenssen steps into retirement, it’s a pivotal moment for us to embrace change,” Pinsley said at the time. “This is an opportunity to innovate and strengthen our community’s health and safety protocols.”
Parents’ Medical Rights Group, a Lehigh Valley nonprofit formed by local families who say they were wrongfully accused of abuse, also welcomed her departure — but said it did not go far enough.
“Allowing years of widespread harm to children and families is unacceptable,” the group said in a March 2024 statement. “We encourage all those in leadership roles to stop staying silent and to start using your voice, as these children and families did, to protect our community from ever having this widespread harm happen again. No more silence.”
The lawsuits filed last year allege that LVHN hired Esernio-Jenssen in 2014 despite being warned she had been removed from the Child Protection Team at the University of Florida for photographing a naked child who was a witness in a case. Plaintiffs accuse her of separating families, damaging reputations and refusing to retract false abuse findings even when confronted with evidence.
“Families were irreparably torn apart because of these accusations and reputations permanently ruined,” one of the filings states. LVHN, which is among nearly 20 defendants listed in the class action suit, has not commented on the litigation. The network has previously defended its doctors, saying they are required by law to report suspicions of child abuse.
“At Lehigh Valley Health Network, we are guided by our mission to heal, comfort, and care for the people of our community,” spokesperson Jamie Stover said in a 2024 statement. “Early recognition of abuse can be lifesaving and our clinicians remain committed to caring for and protecting our patients.”
As of October 2025, LVHN has not responded to new requests for comment.
The Preventionist is available on major podcast platforms."
The entire story can be read at:
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog.
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/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
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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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