There is something strange going on at Greenville Memorial Hospital in South Carolina. Tai Simmons-Roper and her husband Shawn took their 4 week old son to the emergency room, and what resulted was a dramatic downward spiral which resulted in having both of their children taken away and Tai facing charges of child abuse with a possible prison term of up to 35 years. Sadly, these events ultimately broke apart their family. As you will learn, decisions leading to the resolution of this story are not all led by the Ropers, themselves, but by the pressure of government agency oppression, and deal(s) made so they could effectively rebuild their lives, destroyed by those same agencies.

So what mistakes did the Ropers make to start this disastrous train wreck? They neglected to ask one important question before they chose their health care provider/facility. Does this hospital employ Pediatric Child Abuse Specialists? And it may be a question you may want to ask before you seek health care for your child. Here’s why.

Immediately the Roper case was assigned to Dr. Mary Fran Croswell, a child abuse pediatrics physician as reported by Medical Kidnap. (Have you ever heard of a pediatric doctor before?) Is the government now training medical professionals to intervene in family courts and DFS/CPS/DSS issues? They are in South Carolina.

Dr.Mary-Fran-Crosswell

Dr. Mary Fran Crosswell

Misty recounts that, when the results of the x-rays came back, Dr. Mary-Fran Crosswell, Child Abuse Specialist, confidently told the family that Braxton had been abused and had been shaken. She said that the baby had 2 fractures on his knees, 2 on his ankles, and “almost” had a fracture on his wrist.

She reported Tai and Shawn to Child Protective Services (DSS). While the family was still reeling in shock, Dr. Crosswell reportedly told them:

We’re going to go ahead and do a CT scan, but I can already tell you that he’s going to have brain damage.

But that was not what the scan reportedly showed. There was allegedly no brain damage at all. Tai reports that Dr. Crosswell made numerous accusations, but every time tests were done to confirm the things she accused them of, the tests would come back negative.

Also routine according to AAP policy is to perform another set of x-rays about 2 weeks after initial x-rays show multiple unexplained fractures. Misty told Health Impact News that Dr. Crosswell told her:

I’m sure when you bring him back for the follow up skeletal survey in two weeks, we’re going to find multiple fractures.

The doctor’s earlier pronouncements of doom and abuse with the brain damage had terrified the family, and grandmother Misty questioned Dr. Crosswell’s presuppositions:

Are you as sure of that as you were that he’s going to have brain damage?

There was one additional fracture found in the follow-up skeletal survey, on Braxton’s foot, where he had reportedly been held down during another test.

Reports as to the number of broken bones in Braxton vary. Tai reports that she was told that Braxton had 3 rib fractures. Misty said that DSS told her that the doctor said there were 12. Braxton’s pediatrician later mentioned the rib fractures, but Misty said that information had to have come from the hospital.

Later, both Misty and Tai report that Dr. Crosswell denied ever saying anything about rib fractures. Dr. Benson and other experts later examined the x-rays and determined that the fractures date back to Braxton’s birth, or possibly earlier. Misty and Tai theorize that, because the fractures had to have happened either in the womb or during the birth, they don’t fit the picture of child abuse, and indicated that there were problems with his bones from the very beginning. This is why they believe that Greenville Memorial Hospital swept the rib fractures under the rug.

While other doctors reported there was no abuse to the Roper baby, Braxton, Dr. Crosswell ignored those reports along with the clear medical evidence that there was a chronic medical problem afflicting the child. In fact, both Tai and her son, Braxton have a disorder called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS).

In conclusion I do not personally know the family. However what I can state with a very high,degree of medical certainty is that the combination of the genetic disorder Ehlers-Danlos/hypermobility syndrome that Braxton has and with him being vitamin D deficient during his first few weeks of life, markedly increased the fragility of his skeleton. This’ skeletal fragility would have resulted in fractures throughout his first few weeks of life explaining the reason for observing several fractures in various stages of healing. The bruising that was obselved is also a classic sign for EDSwhich causes capillary fragility. The capillary fragility increases risk for black and blue marks which can be misinterpreted as non-accidental bruises.

Michael F Holick PhD M.D.

Additionally from Dr. Marvin Miller M.D.

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In so many other cases of Medical Kidnapping like Justina Pellitiere, and the Rengo family in Washington state, there is a trail of money and corruption in the CPS/DFS system that forces the heavy hand of government into places it has no business.

Former Social Worker: Threat of Lawsuits and Loss of Grant Money Influences CPS and Doctors

A former social worker from South Carolina, who asked to remain anonymous, recently contacted Health Impact News to explain why doctors like Dr. Crosswell stop looking for other explanations once they have decided that a case is child abuse, and it’s a case of “follow the money.”

Many doctors, including Child Abuse Specialists, receive grants for their research. Millions of dollars are up for grabs. Whenever a case comes in to the hospital that the specialists can write up as child abuse, they can use that to get more grant money. However, if a doctor states that a case is child abuse, but later recants that diagnosis based on medical findings, they run the risk of lawsuits, and lawsuits on the record impact a doctor’s ability to obtain grant funding.

Rather than admit that the evidence shows a different picture than they originally thought, the grant money and their reputation influences the child abuse specialists to “stick with” an evaluation of child abuse, even if medical testing clearly shows a different explanation.

In many Medical Kidnap cases, CPS and the courts hinder parents from getting additional tests. Parents have to fight hard, and even then, some are still forbidden to get testing done for their children. Sometimes, the Child Abuse Specialists or even CPS call other doctors that the family plan to take the children to, and suddenly, mysteriously, the new doctor will no longer agree to see the child, or their evaluation changes. ~Medical Kidnap

 

As things develop, follow this Facebook page and give them all the support you can.

Braxton-FB-page

While the Roper’s were cleared of all allegations made against them, custody of their children has still not been returned to them. They are, still fighting.

While working on this post I was contacted by at least two other families who have also had their children taken away as a result of seeking medical care at Greenville Memorial Hospital in South Carolina. The Walls family and the Headley family. Both families have lost their children, and have been thrown into the court system as a result from being assigned child abuse pediatricians.  Hmm. Coincidence? More on the Braxton story as well as Headley and Walls families as well. Stay Tuned!

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