Chris and Keshia Turner hold their sons in 2016. (Photo Turner family, Medicalkidnap.com)
By Health Impact News/MedicalKidnap.com Staff
It was the best news ever for Chris and Keshia Turner of East Tennessee. After 2 1/2 years battling Child Protective Services, their children are home.
On June 24 Keshia posted the happy news on Facebook.
When Health Impact News first spoke with the Turners, their oldest son Brayden had been taken from them by the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services after doctors discovered that her son had multiple fractures in various stages of healing. Keshia was accused of Shaken Baby Syndrome and abuse.
Keshia told us that she believed that her son Brayden was coming home eventually. Her faith in God was what kept her going, she said, and she trusted that God would one day bring good out of all that they were going through.
Then, she gave birth to Carson in September 2015. Because DCS had an ongoing case against Keshia, her 4 day old baby was seized by DCS and placed with his brother.
Through it all, the Turners fought hard to get their children back. When we first spoke with the couple more than two years ago, they knew that there had to be some kind of medical explanation for Brayden’s broken bones and symptoms. However, once a doctor accused the parents of abuse, they said that the doctors stopped looking for answers.
But Keshia did not stop looking. She knew that there had to be answers that the doctors had missed.
Rickets finding
The family is reunited June 24, 2017. (Photo Turner family)
According to medical experts Dr. David Ayoub, radiologist, and Dr. John Galaznik, pediatrician, what the doctors at Vanderbilt hospital missed was evidence that Brayden suffered from infantile rickets and osteopenia of prematurity.
In June of 2016, a juvenile court judge decided that DCS was justified in accusing Keshia Turner of “severe child abuse” and found her guilty.
Last week, their case was heard by a different judge in a circuit court. It was basically a whole new trial, and Judge Amy V. Hollars heard testimony from the DCS side as well as almost 10 hours of medical testimony from the Turners’ medical experts, Dr. Ayoub and Dr. Galaznik.
The experts explained that there is a great deal of research demonstrating that there are often medical reasons for injuries that mimic abuse, and that there are specific indicators of such that many doctors miss.
The science behind “shaken baby syndrome” and multiple broken bones in children is far from “settled science,” and many innocent parents have lost their children and others have been imprisoned when doctors have failed to consider new research and literature or to perform adequate testing to rule out other medical causes for the injuries.
Judges across the country are re-trying convictions of shaken baby syndrome where only one side of the evidence was presented in court, and where the accused did not have an opportunity to present other medical evidence that can cause broken bones apart from abuse or “shaking.”
Dr. Ayoub and Dr. Galaznik presented findings based on Brayden’s X-rays and his medical history. They demonstrated that there was ample evidence that he had medical conditions that caused his broken bones, and they asserted that this was not a case of abuse.
After a week of testimony, the family was called into court at 2 pm on Friday, June 24, to hear the judge’s verdict.
Attorney Connie Reguli said before the ruling that she knew that the truth was on the family’s side. However, too many families have lamented to us that the truth often appears to be irrelevant in DCS/CPS cases. No one knew what to expect, but the family remained hopeful.
The judge ordered the children to be returned immediately.
“Judge Amy V. Hollars found the expert witnesses very persuasive in describing metabolic bone disease,” said family attorney Connie Reguli.
Source: http://medicalkidnap.com/2017/06/25/medically-kidnapped-toddlers-of-tennessee-parents-returned-after-2-years/
