Taxpayers may be on the hook after a case of abuse fell through the cracks, leaving a child with permanent injuries.
“They took half of his brain. That’s what they did,” said Tracy Leahy, the child’s grandmother.
The I-Team interviewed Leahy in 2016 after doctors said her infant grandson suffered from Shaken Baby Syndrome allegedly at the hands of her daughter, Katie Maynard, and son in law, Robert Aufdenberg. They’re the child’s biological parents.
It’s a story the 8 News NOW I-Team has been following since 2016, and now the I-Team has an update.
The baby boy wasn’t expected to survive, but four years later, he’s still alive but still dealing with abuse issues. According to attorneys for the boy and his adoptive parents, he is blind, mostly deaf, and unable to communicate or walk.
The child’s biological parents are in jail at the Clark County Detention Center, awaiting trial. They’re being held on a $1 million bond.
Attorneys for the boy and his adoptive parent say it’s not just the parents to blame; he was also failed by the system.
On Tuesday, the Clark County Commission is expected to approve a $100,000 settlement for failing to protect the child. The I-Team has also learned that Dignity Health settled for an undisclosed amount.
According to court documents, here’s why a lawsuit was filed:
Maynard and Aufdenberg were on probation for a felony after Texas authorities say they abused another child of theirs as a baby in 2014. Somebody later adopted that child.
When they relocated to Clark County, Maynard became pregnant. Child Protective Services took over the case and sent an alert to local hospitals who were told they should contact CPS as soon as Maynard gave birth in August of 2015, so the agency could take custody of the baby.
The alert was sent via fax, and St. Rose Dominican Hospital-Sienna campus discharged Maynard with her infant.
Shortly after, he nearly died due to what doctors called “non-accidental trauma,” Maynard and Aufdenberg were arrested and charged with felony child abuse.
The Division of Public and Behavioral Health investigated and concluded that the system was flawed, and there was no reliable oversight of the faxes, meaning CPS did not track the fax, and the hospital not know what happened to it.
Now the child, who is 5 years old this year, who was born healthy, needs special care. In 2016, the Children’s Advocacy Alliance weighed in.
“Someone dropped the ball somewhere along the lines,” said Denise Tenata, Children’s Advocacy Alliance.
As of August of 2020, court records reveal there was a Medicaid lien for the child’s care of more than $800,000, but the documents are redacted, so again, we do not know how much Dignity Health will pay as a result of the civil suit. A spokesman declined to comment.
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