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OHSU threatens to take an autistic child from his mother.              Her crime?   Seeking medical treatment for her son.

Portland, Oregon
February 7, 2005

Imagine taking your child to the doctor, asking for a second opinion, and getting referred to Child Protective Service instead. This is what happened to Kathryn Dunn. Instead of getting much needed medical help for her chronically ill son, Kathryn is in the fight of her life for her child.

Kathryn Dunn has a seven year old child who was born with several medical issues. For the past four years she has been taking him to OHSU to meet these special medical needs because she was under the impression that this was the best medical facility in the state. OHSU has diagnosed him with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, Autism Spectrum Characteristics, Mildly Mentally Retarded, Disruptive Behavior Disorder, Laryngomalacia, Behavioral Feeding Disorder, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Allergic Rhinitis, Hyperflexia, Dyspraxia, Medically Fragile, the list goes on and on. Every time he sees a new doctor he is given a new set of diagnosis, or they just add on to his current list of diagnosis. Even the doctors he has seen cannot seem to agree on an exact diagnosis. She has done everything they advised her to do, whether she agreed with the treatment or not, ranging all the way from having a g-tube placed in his stomach to psychological treatments for him to even advocating for social security and special education with the public school system for him. She even postponed her plans to move to Eugene to marry because OHSU told her that she had to remain living in the Portland area for her son's ongoing medical care.

In the fall of 2004 Northwest Autism Foundation (NWAF) informed her that Harvard University/Massachusetts General Hospital/LADDERS Program had developed a new protocol for testing children with autism who have Gastrointestinal problems. NWAF just donated approximately one million dollars to OHSU so they could start providing the same protocol of tests on children in the northwest. NWAF told Kathryn Dunn that her son would be a perfect candidate for these tests with his frequent throwing up, diarrhea, constipation, self-limiting diet, as well as his autism spectrum characteristics, and that she should request OHSU to do these tests on her son. Taking NWAF's advice she asked OHSU if they would do the gastrointestinal testing on her son at which time they stated that they would possibly refer Kristopher to the LADDER'S program.

Traditionally, Autism and disorders on the spectrum, such as ADD and ADHD, have been viewed as psychiatric, rather than biomedical issues. Recently, however, institutions like Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and The University of Washington Medical Center, which are part of an organization known as the Autism Treatment Network (ATN), have found many of the children suffering from autistic spectrum disorders, suffer from inflamed bowels, and immune response disorders, and have been treating them, often with surprising results. Finding these conditions is often the first step towards recovery. Many autistic children show dramatic improvement after being treated for disorders of the stomach and intestines. Because the cause of the autistic enterocolitis is controversial - some studies suggest it is related to mercury and measles from childhood vaccination - the medical profession itself is divided over how to treat this condition.

In June of last year, ATN sponsored a conference announcing that OHSU would be joining the ATN team, including Harvard, Massachusetts General. Believing her son Kris qualified for this investigation, Kathryn asked for a procedure called endoscopy, to scope her son's intestine to determine whether Kris was suffering from these problems. Dr. Timothy Buie, of Harvard University, has been instrumental in implementing this procedure and has identified a distinct condition called Autistic Enterocolitis, a severe inflammation of the bowel, which appears in the intestines of many autistic children.

On November 17, 2004 when Kathryn took her son in for a routine check up.  One of OHSU's social workers attempted to trick/coerce her into signing over custody of her son to Children's Protective Services (DHS) claiming it would be a great way to force the state of Oregon to pay for counseling". When Kathryn refused to do it she informed her that OHSU filed child abuse charges against her claiming she had Munchausen syndrome by proxy because Kathryn was trying to make them do Gastro-Intestinal testing on her son when there was nothing wrong with him. Munchausen syndrome by proxy is a controversial disorder, lately in vogue, in which a mother will actually cause or keep a child sick, in order to receive attention for herself. It is the worst accusation that can be made, short of murder, about a mother's relationship to her child. this social worker also threatened Kathryn in front of a witness, that if she tried to fight "them" on this that it would get really "ugly" and DHS would take her child away. At that time Ruth Patterson from DHS entered the room and informed Kathryn that the State of Oregon had taken custody of her son, but they were allowing Kris to reside in her home, for now.

On November 18, 2004 It was brought out during the temporary custody trial that NW Autism had offered to cover all expenses to send Kathryn's son back to Harvard to have the gastrointestinal testing and evaluation performed. Ruth Patterson flatly refused to allow Kristopher Dunn to undergo any further testing stating it was pure child abuse. Then on December 8, 2004, DHS had Kristopher Dunn tested alone with the therapist for an hour and forty-five minutes. Why is it abuse for the mother to have her child tested, but not for DHS to have the child tested?

On December 8, 2004 Kathryn Dunn was tested and found not to have Munchausen syndrome by proxy by a psychologist chosen by DHS, but instead of returning medical custody of Kristopher Dunn to his mother, DHS tried to get Kathryn to plead no contest to at least one of their charges because they wanted to stay involved in her life. when she refused to do that they dropped the Munchausen syndrome by proxy charges and have now charged her with failure to obtain proper medical treatment and failure to provide proper education for her son, as well as failure to admit that she has an undiagnosed mental problem, and no legal father. DHS claims they will have to charge her with something because OHSU will not let them drop the charges against her.

This whole situation is very confusing. How can Kathryn Dunn be originally charged with trying to get too much medical attention and too many educational rights for her child to now being charged with not getting enough medical or education for him? If she has been following the medical treatment that OHSU has been recommending and administering on her son for the past four years and because of their treatment she's been charged with child abuse, why hasn't OHSU been charged with the same?

January 5, 2005 there was a status conference in court on this case. Kathryn Dunn's attorney, George Mead, and Sonya Heinsch case manager with DHS both requested a postponement of the trial date to have a round table discussion with OHSU and other experts to try to come to a resolution without going to court. This meeting never occurred.

On January 28, 2005, George Mead tried to mediate the case with Sonya Heinsch. She would not agree with their requests stating DHS had to remain in control of the case, that Kathryn had to be under supervised long term psychiatric care, and that Kathryn would need to sign that she agreed with one of their charges against her.

At this point DHS and OHSU have had all their accusations disproved, yet they still insist on pursuing it by making up new charges. Kathryn Dunn takes these charges very personally. What could be more personal than someone trying to take your child from you? It is hard enough trying to raise a child with special needs, but it's even more difficult when you are being harassed by someone in the system. She feels that this is a form of pure harassment, and wants to know what someone in her position can do when facing such a devious, inconsistent and unfounded attacks by someone empowered to take their child?

No parent should have to fear seeking appropriate medical treatment for his or her child.

Contact Information:

Brian Rogers, M.D. C.E.O.
OHSU/Doernbecher Children's Hospital
Mail Code 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd.
Portland, Oregon 97239-2901
(503) 494-8362

Ask this man to justify his hospital's position that the best thing for Kristopher is to terminate his mother's custody so he can receive their treatment when he was receiving their treatment when Kathryn's parental rights were not being threatened.

Joan M. Kruse, LCSW Primary Social Worker at CDRC
Pediatric Social Worker working with child's treatment team
Doernbecher Children's Hospital
Mail Code 3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Rd.
Portland, Oregon 97239-2901
(503) 494-2273
email: krusej@ohsu.edu

Ask Ms. Kruse to explain why she has been manufacturing a case to prove Kathryn's dis-proved mental problems make her an unfit parent; explain how she can accuse Kathryn of being negligent of seeking medical attention for her autistic child when her employer has been providing the child's healthcare for the past four years.

Ruth Patterson/Sonya Heinsch, HB DHS Social Worker Specialist
Dept. of Human Services
Child Welfare program
Washington County, Hillsboro Office
5920 NE Ray Circle, Suite 110
Hillsboro, Oregon 97124
(503) 681-6947 Fax (503) 681-6901
(503) 598-6102
email: Heinsch@state.or.us

This woman seems to have clear insight into the issues involved. Encourage her to follow her heart in this case.

Northwest Autism Foundation
Joe Taylor - Dave Humphrey
519 15th Street
Oregon Ciy, OR 97045
(503) 557-2111 Fax (503) 557-2156
email: director@autismnwaf.org

Ask these people to explain why they would support autism research programs funded and administrated by organized medicine when they know that the vaccines institutions like OHSU recommend and routinely deliver to our children are at the foundation of the nation's autism epidemic.

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