Opinion ID: 1988638
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The mistreatment of Ch.H.

Text: By the time his plight was brought to the attention of the police on August 22, 2001, Ch.H. had suffered, at the hands of adults, mistreatment which can fairly be characterized as horrifying. Prior to May of that year, Ch.H. had been living with his mother, Ms. T.H., his mother's boyfriend, and his siblings. Ch.H. was a bed wetter, a condition that apparently irritated adults who were in charge of him. The mother subsequently stipulated that she had neglected Ch.H. and her other children by failing to protect them from her boyfriend. Although the mother testified that the boyfriend had merely slapped Ch.H. with his hand, the uncontradicted medical evidence showed that Ch.H. had numerous scars on his back which were probably attributable to cigarette burns. The date when these burns were inflicted is uncertain, but the scars were old enough to suggest that these injuries may have occurred when Ch.H. was still in his mother's care, and the District so alleged in a neglect petition directed against the mother. In May 2001, Ch.H. went to stay with Mr. and Mrs. L. for the summer. At that time, he, his mother, and Mr. L. all apparently believed that Mr. L. was Ch.H.'s father. In fact, Ch.H.'s mother testified that Ch.H. was looking forward to visiting his daddy. Unfortunately, the boy's experiences at the home of Mr. and Mrs. L. did not bear out his optimistic expectations. On August 22, 2001, Mr. and Mrs. L. brought Ch.H. to Greater Southeast Hospital. Mr. L. identified himself as Ch.H.'s father. The boy was unconscious, and he had many straight and looped welts, bruises, and lacerations on his legs, buttocks, arms, chest, ribs, waist, back, and on the soles of his feet. He had a wide open gash on his forehead, and another injury that had formed a scab on top of his head. Police detectives were informed of the situation. The explanation of Ch.H.'s condition provided to the detectives by Mr. and Mrs. L.  that Ch.H. had fallen off Mrs. L.'s back during a game of horsey, that he had struck his head in another fall, and that he had been bitten by the family's young female pit bullseemed to the officers to be incredible and insufficient to explain the boy's numerous injuries. One of the officers perceived the injuries to be so severe that he did not believe that Ch.H. would survive. Mr. and Mrs. L. admitted that they had not previously sought medical care for Ch.H. for the dog bite (because the dog had received all of her shots) or for any of his other injuries. In light of the seriousness of Ch.H.'s condition, the boy was transported to Children's Hospital Medical Center, where he was placed in intensive care. Upon his arrival, he was comatose and appeared to be undernourished. Hospital personnel had to provide Ch.H. with a ventilator to assist him in breathing. At Children's Hospital, Ch.H. was examined and treated by Allison McCarley, M.D., a board-certified pediatrician. Dr. McCarley testified as an expert witness at the evidentiary hearing. She counted a total of forty-three straight and looped lacerations over Ch.H.'s body, all consistent with the boy's having been beaten intentionally with an electrical cord or belt. These injuries, according to Dr. McCarley, were not of the kind that could occur accidentally, and although the evidence on this point might be clearer, she indicated (and the trial judge found) that most or all of these injuries were recent and were probably incurred during the period that Ch.H. was staying with Mr. and Mrs. L. In addition to the beatings and whippings that left the lacerations, Ch.H. suffered serious internal injuries. A CAT scan revealed that Ch.H. had sustained acute, fresh bleeding on the top of his brain; Dr. McCarley testified that this injury was less than a week old. The boy had also suffered retinal hemorrhages (or bleeding) in both of his eyes. These injuries, according to Dr. McCarley, were caused by severe shaking and trauma, and they could not have occurred accidentally or from playing horsey. Dr. McCarley acknowledged that some of Ch.H.'s injuries were consistent with a fall. Ch.H. remained on a ventilator for fourteen days, and in intensive care for three weeks. He was then moved to the Hospital for Sick Children, where he was apparently still a patient at the time of the evidentiary hearing. As a result of the bleeding of his brain, Ch.H. has suffered visual impairment and cognitive delay. His mother testified that when she last visited Ch.H. at the Hospital for Sick Children in February 2002 (more than two months before the hearing), he was in a wheelchair, apparently unable to walk or even to talk normally. Before his stay with the L. family, according to the mother, Ch.H. was really motivated. He attended school, and he liked to watch cartoons and to play with his toy cars.