This article was published in partnership with KING 5 (KING-TV), an affiliate of NBC in Seattle.
TACOMA, Wash. – For more than three years, officials in Washington state have considered Dr. Elizabeth Woods one of her experts in suspected child abuse cases, often relying on her medical opinions to determine when to take her parents’ children or bring criminal charges. .
But this winter, Woods left her position as director of the child abuse intervention program at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, and last month she was removed from the short list of doctors who provide specialized medical reports to the state welfare agency. child, hospital and state officials confirmed. Some prosecutors in the area have also sent letters to defense lawyers revealing that Woods’ credibility as an expert has been called into question.
These changes follow an investigation by NBC News and KING 5 (KING-TV) a year ago, which revealed that Woods, 39, had provided false information while testifying under oath as to why she never received the key training to become an expert. child abuse doctor. The investigation also examined four cases in which child welfare workers took children from their parents based on Woods’ reports – including some in which Woods distorted important facts, according to a review of records – despite conflicting opinions from other medical experts. who said they saw no evidence of abuse.
Mary Bridge officials initially defended Woods’ work in a statement to reporters last year, arguing that she had “significant experience in the field of child abuse.” But in an internal letter sent to the hospital staff on the same day that the NBC News and KING 5 investigation was published, on February 14, 2020, the president of the hospital’s parent company announced that Mary Bridge leaders had asked for an outside expert to review the child abuse program under Woods’ leadership, according to a copy of the letter obtained by NBC News and KING 5 this month.
This expert review identified “suggestions for improving our structure and process” in the child abuse program and prompted the hospital to initiate “changes in its medical staff and leadership model,” said Mary Bridge spokeswoman Marce Edwards Olson, in an email to reporters this month. Amid these ongoing changes, wrote Edwards Olson, Woods “left Mary Bridge to look for other opportunities.”
Woods did not respond to messages requesting comment, and Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital staff did not respond to questions about the circumstances of his departure.
His departure was celebrated by several parents – many of whom joined a Facebook group entitled “Families wrongly accused by ‘Dr.’ Elizabeth Woods ”- who say that Woods’ erroneous reports led the state’s Child Protection Services to unnecessarily separate them from their children. And it raises questions about the future of any pending child abuse cases that depend on their specialized medical findings, legal experts said, possibly opening the door for parents or their lawyers to challenge the state’s case against them.
Among the doctors hired to review child abuse cases for Child Protection Services in Washington, the NBC News and KING 5 report showed, Woods was the only one who did not have decades of experience examining child abuse cases and also never completed the training now required to become certified in child abuse pediatrics, a medical subspecialty dedicated to differentiating accidental childhood injuries from those that may have been inflicted.
Nancy Gutierrez, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Department of Children, Youth and Families, said the decision to remove Woods from the list was made by Seattle Children’s Hospital, which manages the network of abuse experts under a contract with the state .
Kathryn Mueller, a spokesman for Seattle Children’s, confirmed that the hospital removed Woods from the list on February 19, following his departure from Mary Bridge. But Mueller suggested that Woods could return to the program in the future, writing in an email that Woods “was temporarily removed from the list while she established her job as an independent contractor”.
But even if Woods resumes his job as a state child abuse consultant, questions remain about how his expert testimony would be received in courts across the Seattle area.
Two local prosecutors revealed to reporters last week that they added Woods to internal lists of police officers and other prosecutors who were questioned about their veracity. Since June 25, the prosecutor’s office in Pierce County, where Mary Bridge is based, has been sending letters to defense lawyers in all pending criminal cases involving Woods, notifying them of “possible evidence of impeachment” against her, along with a copy of NBC News and investigation KING 5.
Woods was asked to provide evidence to challenge his inclusion on the list, but he did not, said a prosecutor’s spokesman.
Prosecutors added Woods to a similar list in Thurston County last week, and officials in neighboring King County, which includes Seattle, said they had started a review to determine whether they should do the same.
In Kitsap County, prosecutors said they began reviewing all reports from Woods ‘experts after last year’s report and have since brought in other medical experts in some criminal cases to verify the accuracy of Woods’ findings. Following news of Woods’ recent departure from Mary Bridge, the Kitsap County Prosecutor’s Office contacted the hospital for additional information and is considering whether to add it to its list of potentially discredited prosecutors as well.
“Law enforcement agencies are required to provide us with information about the credibility of their employees,” said Kitsap County District Attorney Chad Enright. “Mary Bridge is a private company and does not have the same obligation. So, we are looking for this information. “
Questions about the reliability and accuracy of Woods’ medical expert reports began to surface months after she took over as medical director of Mary Bridge’s child abuse intervention team in 2018, according to a review of case documents and interviews with accused families. Among those who raised questions: At least three other doctors, a high court judge and a child social worker who reported that Woods urged her to take custody of a 9-year-old girl without first completely reviewing the child’s case file and medical records.
In a 2018 case, presented in the NBC News and KING 5 investigation, Child Protection Services took two children from their mother, Megan Carter, after Woods reported that Carter was abusing his daughter with unnecessary medical treatment. The children were returned 14 months later, when Judge Susan Amini ruled that most of Woods’ testimony in the case was “without factual basis”.
Carter said his two children, now 7 and 11, are still receiving therapy after a year’s separation.
“It looks like we can breathe a little bit more now, and I feel like I worry a little less,” said Carter, reacting to the news of Woods’ departure. “The worry she caused and the trauma she caused in our family will always be there. It will never go away completely. “
With Woods no longer working on behalf of the state, it is unclear what will happen to the pending child welfare cases she consulted. A spokeswoman for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, which serves as a legal advisor to the state child welfare agency on thousands of civil dependency cases, said it is not possible to quickly tabulate how many pending CPS cases involve Woods.
“Our five division heads who oversee child abuse and neglect cases are aware of the concerns that have been raised,” said Brionna Aho, the spokeswoman. “They have and will follow up on any concerns.”
In the meantime, Woods is still listed as a potential expert witness in at least 17 criminal cases pending in the Seattle area and has provided expert reports or testified at least 23 others, according to records provided by prosecutors in the area.
Prosecutors with ongoing cases involving Woods said it is not immediately clear whether his departure from Mary Bridge will impact these cases, with some emphasizing that they would seek additional medical experts to corroborate their findings when necessary.
In a pending case in Kitsap County, junior Navy officer Baylen Armendariz, now 21, was accused in 2019 of abusing his baby twins based on Woods’ report to authorities that the only plausible explanation for his fractured bones it was “a motor vehicle collision” or abuse. Three external medical experts reviewed the twins’ medical records on behalf of Armendariz and concluded that the fractures were probably the result of a mineral deficiency that can lead to weak bones and vulnerable to breakage.
Armendariz pleaded not guilty to the abuse charges and accepted an agreement this year with prosecutors that allows her to visit her twins, now two, three times a week, under her grandmother’s supervision. If she follows the agreement, all charges against her will be dropped and she will regain custody of the twins when the deal ends in February 2026.
Although she is relieved to be able to see her children again, she is heartbroken that she will not be able to take them home for another five years.
After hearing about Woods’ departure from Mary Bridge, she said she hopes the authorities will re-examine the evidence.
“I would like the case to be reviewed by the court,” she said. “Take into account the possibility of medical problems. Not everything is child abuse. “
Taylor Mirfendereski reported from Tacoma, Washington, and Mike Hixenbaugh reported from Houston.