A local mother took her young son to be treated for an injury at the hospital and left devastated. According to the young mother, doctors accused her of abusing her little boy, but she says they are wrong.
Jessica Battiato told FOX 29 that she's a loving and attentive young mother. She says her newborn named Cesar is a happy baby so when she took him to the hospital with an irritated leg she was shocked when they accused her of child abuse.
"They told us that he had 18 fractures and 2 they were unsure about, but there were 18 definite. I didn't understand what was going on, I didn't know what to think," Jessica said.
After a series of tests at Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Cesar, was taken from his mother, but Jessica Battiato maintains she didn't do it.
And at least one doctor believes her. Dr. David Ayoub, a radiology specialist from Illinois, who has helped many parents whom he feels are wrongly accused because doctors don't look for other causes. After he reviewed all of little Cesar's medical records he said: "I believe it is virtually irrefutable that Cesar suffered from skeletal rickets and unrecognized bone fragility and thus received an inappropriate diagnosis of a victim of abuse."
Dr. Ayoub has agreed to testify in court and he'll get a chance later this month when Battiato tries to regain custody of her son.
"Every day I hear something from the doctors or them emailing me back and forth has helped me to get one step closer to getting my son," she told FOX 29.
Berks County Child Protective Services had no comments, but we did hear back from Hershey Medical Center and they said the following:
"Our physician's diagnosis in this case was based on the patient's condition and reached through medically appropriate evaluation.
The Federal HIPAA privacy law restricts Penn State Hershey Medical Center and our physician from providing any facts to defend our decision, as a mandated reporter [under the Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law], to contact ChildLine in this case.
As a result, we encourage everyone to remember that you are only hearing one side of this story. The version of what occurred as presented by Ms. Battiato is inaccurate, incomplete and defamatory. "
A hearing is scheduled for June 29th so we'll keep you posted.