BOSTON GLOBE REPORTS:
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/10/18/texas_takes_custody_of_childrens_hospital_patient/
Texas takes custody of Children’s patient Affidavit alleges neglect by mother
By Maria Cramer and Carolyn Y. Johnson Globe Staff / October 18, 2010
A 5-year-old girl who traveled with her mother to Children’s Hospital Boston for treatment this month has been taken into custody by Texas authorities, who cited evidence of medical neglect.
Emma Routh has Fanconi anemia, a rare and serious blood disorder that can cause bone marrow failure and lead to cancer. She received a bone marrow transplant at Children’s Hospital Boston in January, and her story has drawn national media attention because of her family’s struggle to pay medical bills.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services took custody of the child Friday after an affidavit was filed in Anderson County 349th District Court in Palestine, Texas.
“The medical condition of the child warranted that we get involved and that we take immediate custody,’’ said Shari Pulliam, a spokeswoman for the department who read portions of the affidavit to the Globe.
It stated that Emma was dehydrated on Oct. 8, the day she arrived at the hospital, Pulliam said. Her hygiene was “suboptimal,’’ and a blood culture from the central venous line attached to her body revealed the presence of several types of bacteria, Pulliam read from the affidavit. Since July, the family had been monitored by Texas’s Family Based Safety Services.
“The department believes that the safety of Emma would be in immediate danger should she return to the care of her parents, due to the history of medical neglect, physical neglect, and neglectful supervision,’’ the affidavit states. Pulliam said it also cites “the obvious neglect by the mother for failing to provide necessary nutrition and hydration to the medically fragile child for over 24 hours, which resulted in kidney damage, and could lead to more severe and potential life-threatening complications.’’
A case worker from Texas will travel to Boston this week. When Emma is discharged from Children’s Hospital, she will be brought to a children’s hospital in Dallas, the affidavit says.
“They told me that they had some bad news,’’ Brandy Routh, the girl’s mother, said in an interview Saturday. “They really wanted me to stay calm but they needed to inform me they had turned me in to children’s services.’’
Bess Andrews, a spokeswoman for Children’s Hospital Boston, said that the hospital is barred from commenting on the case. “There is a Texas court order preventing Children’s Hospital Boston from releasing information about the child or the family,’’ Andrews said.
Routh has drawn sympathy and headlines for her quest to have her daughter’s disease treated at Children’s Hospital Boston. In an ABC News story, Routh said she quit college to focus on her daughter and lost her house and car because of medical bills.
Routh said she flew to Boston on Oct. 7 for what was supposed to be a two- to three-day trip to the hospital so doctors could run tests on Emma.
Routh said she was nervous about making the trip because Emma, who has difficulty eating and drinking on her own, would have to make the long journey without use of a central venous line that helps keep her hydrated.
But she said doctors assured her that Emma would be OK as long as she got to the hospital by the next morning.
After Routh arrived with her daughter, she said doctors took blood tests that gave them pause and told her Emma would need to stay a few days at the hospital for observation.
Before Saturday, Routh had been staying in Emma’s room, sleeping on a small bed. Now, Pulliam said, Routh is allowed to see her child for supervised visits during three two-hour intervals over the course of a day.
Routh said she was a good mother who did everything she could to help her daughter fight the disease.
She said she has also been prohibited by authorities to be with her other two children, both boys, without supervision.
“I’m going home to nothing,’’ Routh said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. My kids are my life. All I know is being their mother.’’
Maria Cramer can be reached at [email protected].
Correction: Because of a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misspelled the name of a Children’s Hospital Boston spokeswoman. She is Bess Andrews.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company. MORE FROM BOSTON.COM
COMMENTS:
lapicciano
In reference to "The family had been monitored since July by Texas Family svcs-lacks informing you, {the Dr.s and staff member aware of this info as well} that it was at the request of Mrs. B. Routh's, in her efforts to protect the best interest of her child, of whom which was under court ordered permitted visitations with the father. Everytime Emma returned from those visits, resulted in her requiring immediate hospitalization-mainly due to dehydration. The time in July, she didn't make it out the front door of the fathers house, having to be taken by ambulance, nearly losing her precious life
~IN THE BEST INTEREST OF HER CHILDS VERY LIFE, her mother appealed for HELP AND ASSISTANCE from the Dept.~
TOO NO AVAIL.
~SHE WAS STILL ORDERED TO SEND HER TO THE FATHERS~
ALL THE NEGLECT THE CHILD WAS EXPERIENCING WAS THE DIRECT RESULT OF TEXAS CPS ALLOWING IT, BY NOT HELPING OR ASSISTING:
~ MRS. ROUTH to PROTECT HER CHILD'S VERY DELICATE LIFE, NOR,
did they assist in WHAT WAS IN HER CHILD'S BEST INTEREST~
AND: in regards to her suboptimal hygiene- well, go to her photo's sections and tell me the difference you see before taken into custody, and now! what's being done to this child-I only pray, Gods vengeance be swift... I pray for you, and that you get all you deserve.
By Maria Cramer and Carolyn Y. Johnson Globe Staff / October 18, 2010
A 5-year-old girl who traveled with her mother to Children’s Hospital Boston for treatment this month has been taken into custody by Texas authorities, who cited evidence of medical neglect.
Emma Routh has Fanconi anemia, a rare and serious blood disorder that can cause bone marrow failure and lead to cancer. She received a bone marrow transplant at Children’s Hospital Boston in January, and her story has drawn national media attention because of her family’s struggle to pay medical bills.
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services took custody of the child Friday after an affidavit was filed in Anderson County 349th District Court in Palestine, Texas.
“The medical condition of the child warranted that we get involved and that we take immediate custody,’’ said Shari Pulliam, a spokeswoman for the department who read portions of the affidavit to the Globe.
It stated that Emma was dehydrated on Oct. 8, the day she arrived at the hospital, Pulliam said. Her hygiene was “suboptimal,’’ and a blood culture from the central venous line attached to her body revealed the presence of several types of bacteria, Pulliam read from the affidavit. Since July, the family had been monitored by Texas’s Family Based Safety Services.
“The department believes that the safety of Emma would be in immediate danger should she return to the care of her parents, due to the history of medical neglect, physical neglect, and neglectful supervision,’’ the affidavit states. Pulliam said it also cites “the obvious neglect by the mother for failing to provide necessary nutrition and hydration to the medically fragile child for over 24 hours, which resulted in kidney damage, and could lead to more severe and potential life-threatening complications.’’
A case worker from Texas will travel to Boston this week. When Emma is discharged from Children’s Hospital, she will be brought to a children’s hospital in Dallas, the affidavit says.
“They told me that they had some bad news,’’ Brandy Routh, the girl’s mother, said in an interview Saturday. “They really wanted me to stay calm but they needed to inform me they had turned me in to children’s services.’’
Bess Andrews, a spokeswoman for Children’s Hospital Boston, said that the hospital is barred from commenting on the case. “There is a Texas court order preventing Children’s Hospital Boston from releasing information about the child or the family,’’ Andrews said.
Routh has drawn sympathy and headlines for her quest to have her daughter’s disease treated at Children’s Hospital Boston. In an ABC News story, Routh said she quit college to focus on her daughter and lost her house and car because of medical bills.
Routh said she flew to Boston on Oct. 7 for what was supposed to be a two- to three-day trip to the hospital so doctors could run tests on Emma.
Routh said she was nervous about making the trip because Emma, who has difficulty eating and drinking on her own, would have to make the long journey without use of a central venous line that helps keep her hydrated.
But she said doctors assured her that Emma would be OK as long as she got to the hospital by the next morning.
After Routh arrived with her daughter, she said doctors took blood tests that gave them pause and told her Emma would need to stay a few days at the hospital for observation.
Before Saturday, Routh had been staying in Emma’s room, sleeping on a small bed. Now, Pulliam said, Routh is allowed to see her child for supervised visits during three two-hour intervals over the course of a day.
Routh said she was a good mother who did everything she could to help her daughter fight the disease.
She said she has also been prohibited by authorities to be with her other two children, both boys, without supervision.
“I’m going home to nothing,’’ Routh said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. My kids are my life. All I know is being their mother.’’
Maria Cramer can be reached at [email protected].
Correction: Because of a reporting error, an earlier version of this story misspelled the name of a Children’s Hospital Boston spokeswoman. She is Bess Andrews.
© Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company. MORE FROM BOSTON.COM
COMMENTS:
lapicciano
In reference to "The family had been monitored since July by Texas Family svcs-lacks informing you, {the Dr.s and staff member aware of this info as well} that it was at the request of Mrs. B. Routh's, in her efforts to protect the best interest of her child, of whom which was under court ordered permitted visitations with the father. Everytime Emma returned from those visits, resulted in her requiring immediate hospitalization-mainly due to dehydration. The time in July, she didn't make it out the front door of the fathers house, having to be taken by ambulance, nearly losing her precious life
~IN THE BEST INTEREST OF HER CHILDS VERY LIFE, her mother appealed for HELP AND ASSISTANCE from the Dept.~
TOO NO AVAIL.
~SHE WAS STILL ORDERED TO SEND HER TO THE FATHERS~
ALL THE NEGLECT THE CHILD WAS EXPERIENCING WAS THE DIRECT RESULT OF TEXAS CPS ALLOWING IT, BY NOT HELPING OR ASSISTING:
~ MRS. ROUTH to PROTECT HER CHILD'S VERY DELICATE LIFE, NOR,
did they assist in WHAT WAS IN HER CHILD'S BEST INTEREST~
AND: in regards to her suboptimal hygiene- well, go to her photo's sections and tell me the difference you see before taken into custody, and now! what's being done to this child-I only pray, Gods vengeance be swift... I pray for you, and that you get all you deserve.