| : "Munchausen" Mom Jailed for Life, Innocent since 1982, Doctor Tells Governor | ||
| Roanoke, VA 24014 | July 1, 2003 | |
| The
senior doctor among many hoping to detour around a deliberately tardy
Lewisburg court, Dr. Joseph Aldrich now of Arkansas wrote forcefully to
West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise urging him to free an innocent mother
incarcerated for life without mercy. Pediatrician for both now deceased children, Dr. Aldrich joins others in expressing concern at the local court's ignoring pre- and post-trial evidence of Marybeth Davis's actual innocence in the death of her daughter, 3, in 1982 and injury of her baby son the year before. Citizens to Free Marybeth Davis, a group of doctors amazed and outraged at the mother's continuing imprisonment, first wrote to Gov. Wise in Feb. 2002, receiving a response 15 months later after its second letter requesting exoneration. The group's insistence is based on medical documentation since 1981-82, much of it withheld and still more found only after a wrongful conviction in August 1997. Born with obvious problems, eventually found based in genetic error, little Seth clearly needed expert help and was airlifted from West Virginia to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh. Discovered only recently was his devastating loss of oxygen because his endotracheal tube slipped during air transport. Dr. Aldrich mentioned that major event to Gov. Wise and stressed Seth's brain damage was not caused by the insulin injection claimed to have been given by his mother but never was. "We (the doctor-medical specialists group) submitted this Application for Exoneration to you on behalf of Mrs. Davis...because the court has refused to acknowledge/accept proof refuting any wrongdoing on (her) part," the doctor, now practicing in Fort Smith, Ark., wrote. He repeated what was known and accepted now into a third decade ago: "I advised the prosecuting attorney of my diagnoses and impressions prior to the trial (summer 1997 in Lewisburg, W. Va.) however he proceeded, relating there was 'new evidence.' There was no new evidence. The facts were the same as those reviewed and discussed with the original prosecuting attorney in office in 1982 who saw no reason to proceed. "The trial was in a hostile environment due to misunderstanding, complexity, and inappropriate information 'leaked' to the public. Again, proof has been submitted exonerating Mrs. Davis, but it has been stonewalled and she remains in jail," Dr. Aldrich recounts. For 10 months prior to a trial six newspapers repeated stories from the then prosecuting attorney, now State Sen. Mark Burnette who touted the Davis conviction in his campaigns. He spoke emotionally about the scientifically baseless motivation theory called "Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy." It was conceived a quarter-century ago by currently discredited retired British pediatrician Roy Meadow. His testimony in two recent high profile trials in UK is being ridiculed, at least six imprisoned mothers may have their cases reviewed, and every case using MSP (by any variant name) worldwide will ultimately require reconsideration as well. Dr. Aldrich indicated to Gov. Wise the long accepted reality that the Davis children shared an inherited genetic predisposition causing Tegan's death from diagnosed (and often reconfirmed) Reye's Syndrome. The slipped tube is the apparent cause of baby Seth's most severe brain injury. Had the Pittsburgh Hospital read its lab result showing human growth hormone (HGH) deficiency while he was there, rather than years later before his mother's trial, and properly treated him, his life would have been different and better. "There are 16 doctors listed (by Citizens to Free Marybeth Davis in Nov. 2002) who have told the courts that no crimes were committed in the Davis Case; and, there are more. It is not believeable that the courts are unaware of these doctors and the obvious fact that the Davis case has no crimes," notes group website information naming doctors and their specific findings. After noting that he had forwarded a letter asking West Virginia's Chief Medical Examiner to review medical facts of the Davis case, Dr. Aldrich concluded his reaction to Gov. Wise's belated response of May 29: "The suggestion of waiting until 2012 to proceed with any action is not right nor just since there was no crime committed other than having children with inborn weakness. Once again I beg you to do everything in your power to help secure the release of this innocent woman Marybeth Davis." Seth Davis died in October 2002. His autopsy report has been requested dozens of times. The latest promise is that it will be in the mail to Paul Detch's law office on Monday at the latest. Barbara Bryan Contact: Paul Detch in Lewisburg, W. Va., Davis attorney from the original agreement that there was no case to prosecute in 1982. Also: http://www.freemarybethdavis.homestead.com |
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| Barbara
Bryan (BHBryan@aol.com) Communications Director National Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center P.O. Box 8323 Roanoke, VA 24014 Phone : 540-345-1952 Fax : 540-345-1899 National
Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center
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