Opinion ID: 2630325
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: events surrounding the death of cassandra killpack

Text: ¶ 4 In July 1999, Killpack and her husband adopted 21-month-old Cassandra. Some years after the adoption, Cassandra began having behavioral problems, including refusing to eat at mealtimes, hoarding and sneaking food, and urinating at inappropriate times. ¶ 5 In an effort to curb these behaviors, the Killpacks began taking Cassandra to therapy sessions with a psychologist, Dr. Paul Jenkins, who diagnosed Cassandra with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD). Dr. Jenkins based his diagnosis on the Killpacks' reports of Cassandra's misbehavior, not on any behavior he observed during his sessions with the family. [1] ¶ 6 In November 2001, Dr. Jenkins suggested that the Killpacks take Cassandra to a psychiatrist who could prescribe medication for her. Resisting this suggestion, the Killpacks stopped seeing Dr. Jenkins and several months later began taking Cassandra to Cascade Therapy for intensive, nonmedicinal therapy aimed at treating her behavioral problems. According to Killpack, the therapists at Cascade confirmed Dr. Jenkins's RAD diagnosis and recommended that Killpack implement treatment ideas from a book by Nancy Thomas. [2] The book suggested that parents could cure a child's misbehavior by having the child repeat a particular misbehavior in excess. The book did not, however, specifically suggest forcing a child to drink water as a treatment for the child's drinking-related misbehavior. ¶ 7 According to Killpack, Cassandra's misbehavior strained their relationship. Killpack responded to the strain by severely disciplining and sometimes injuring Cassandra during several incidents between July 9, 1999, and June 9, 2002. These incidents included Killpack hitting Cassandra on the head with a metal spoon, which caused her head to bleed; pushing Cassandra into the bathroom, where she slipped and hit her face on the toilet, which caused a black eye; backhanding Cassandra; choking Cassandra because she would not eat her food; force-feeding Cassandra; biting Cassandra; forcing Cassandra to drink water to the point that she spit up and urinated uncontrollably; and forcing Cassandra to stand in a corner with her hands over her head until her body shook. ¶ 8 A final confrontation between Killpack and Cassandra occurred on June 9, 2002. Killpack testified that on that day, she forced Cassandra to drink water as punishment for sneaking a glass of Kool-Aid. During this punishment, Killpack forced Cassandra to drink water until she refused to drink anymore, at which point Killpack tied Cassandra's hands behind her back, leaned her head back, and forced her to drink through a lidded sippy cup. Killpack then untied Cassandra's arms, and when Killpack's husband arrived home, she enlisted him to hold Cassandra's arms while the two of them attempted to force Cassandra to drink yet more water. Though Killpack claims she forced Cassandra to drink no more than 24 ounces of water, medical experts testified that, based on the amount of water in her system at the time of death, Cassandra had been forced to drink more than five times that amount4 quarts or 128 ounces. ¶ 9 When it became clear that Cassandra could not be forced to drink more water, Killpack and her husband made Cassandra do exercises, including running, jumping, and doing sit-ups. While running, Cassandra tripped several times and eventually fell to the floor. After the exercises, Killpack and her husband made Cassandra stand in the corner, where she vomited and told Killpack that she could not keep her legs from shaking and that her head hurt. Killpack told Cassandra to get a towel to clean up the vomit. Shortly after this, Cassandra collapsed and lost consciousness. Killpack's husband then called 911. ¶ 10 EMTs took Cassandra to the emergency room at Utah Valley Medical Center. Her symptoms included a distended stomach, low body temperature, slow and shallow breathing, low oxygen saturation level, low sodium levels, an excessive amount of fluid in her system, foaming at the mouth and nostrils, and swelling in the brain. Emergency crews treated Cassandra's symptoms in part with an intravenous saline solution and oxygen. Despite their efforts, doctors declared Cassandra brain dead early the next morning as a result of brain swelling, low blood sodium, and low brain oxygen, all of which resulted from being forced to drink an excessive amount of water.