RAEANNE | PENNSYLVANIA

“On July 24th I took my 7 month old son Wyatt to his pediatrician. He had a strange rash and was vomiting almost non-stop. He even threw up all over the floor while we were at the appointment. Our pediatrician was concerned about his symptoms and sent us the ER. We spent 9 hours in the emergency room and during that time Wyatt continuously threw up. We were then transferred to the children’s hospital.

At the children’s hospital, Wyatt’s viral panel showed that he had enterovirus and rhinovirus, along with Strep A, and hand foot and mouth. His other scans/tests were clear, but they still weren’t sure about his vomiting so we had a GI consult. The GI consultant we had was awful. He was dismissive, was only in the room for a few minutes, didn’t even examine Wyatt, and kept talking over me so I asked for a second opinion.

What happened next?

On July 29th, three security guards took Wyatt from my arms, told me that I had to leave for his safety, and gave me less than two minutes to say goodbye to him. My baby was ripped out of my arms faster than I could comprehend what was happening.

The head of Child Protective Medicine at the children’s hospital, without ever having met me, had accused me of Munchausen by proxy, saying I was ‘fabricating’ Wyatt’s illness for attention. If you Google this doctor, her history of wrongfully accusing parents has followed her from New York, to Florida, and now she's doing it in Pennsylvania.

We were not allowed to see Wyatt for almost three weeks. We were never updated on his condition as we were supposed to be. During the time we were not able to see him he stopped eating, had to be placed on a feeding tube but still lost weight, and acquired a blood infection. We were placed on a safety plan for our oldest son which meant I was not allowed to be alone with him. Due to being away from my baby and the stress of it all, my breast milk dried up - just another thing this doctor took away from me.

We did not get to see Wyatt until he was officially being discharged from the hospital. He was discharged to my parents until all this could be sorted out. Every single night my oldest son would ask when his baby brother was coming home.

The charges and accusations against us were dropped and found to be false/unfounded. I cannot begin to express the agony and trauma we felt as a family - if it weren’t for both of our families’ and friends’ support we don't how we would have gotten through this nightmare.

Wyatt is home now where he belongs and the nightmare is over - but now another fight begins. This doctor has to be stopped.”

On September 7th, 2023, the day after Raeanne’s story was finalized to be shared for Parents Behind the Pinwheels, the child abuse pediatrician in this case was removed from her position as head of the child advocacy center.