Mother who lost custody of twins files second appeal after new information reveals proof of genetic condition
By Heather Walker, Darcelle Hall
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Florida (WSVN) — The court fight goes on for a mother accused of abusing her babies. But she said new evidence reveals her twins do have a rare disease and their injuries started before they were even born. 7’s Heather Walker has the update in tonight’s 7 Investigates.
Tasha Patterson: “It’s the holidays, and I want my kids. It’s not fair.”
This is Tasha Patterson’s third Christmas without her twins.
Tasha Patterson: “I have the Christmas tree, and I have the bag that I’m filling with my baby’s toys. There is no reason why we should be spending another Christmas without our entire family together.”
Tasha is a nurse practitioner. When we first spoke to her earlier this month, she told us her twins struggled from birth.
Tasha Patterson: “They would have these spurts of increased fussiness that we didn’t understand why.”
She made several trips to doctors and emergency rooms, but never found out what was wrong.
On her last visit to the E.R., a doctor found one of the babies had rib fractures.
Tasha Patterson: “They had my second twin brought in. He had fractures everywhere.”
The injuries were reported to the Department of Children and Families, and the babies were taken away.
Tasha Patterson: “No, I didn’t abuse my babies.”
Tasha found out later she had a rare disease called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, or EDS, which can be passed to children.
The disorder causes easy bruising and fragile bones.
Despite informing the state, DCF refused to return the children and denied her first appeal.
Now, she’s appealing again, and more doctors are saying the babies weren’t abused.
Valentina Villalobos, Attorney: “That doctor said, ‘Although this is new and there is not a ton known about it, what we do know about it makes it impossible for you to conclude that this is child abuse.’”
Tasha’s case has been reviewed by several EDS experts.
Dr. Irman Forghani from Mount Sinai Medical Genetics found, “One of the twins continued to show new fractures while the child was not in Tasha’s custody.”
Tasha Patterson: “So you are labeling these things as unexplained injuries, but it’s not unexplained due to concealment; it’s because we didn’t even know at the time. Now we are giving you the information.”
Another doctor said some of the fractures happened before the babies were even born.
Valentina Villalobos, Attorney: “So obviously that is pretty exonerating if there were fractures that were occurring when she was pregnant and while the kids were in the hospital.”
For now, Tasha has supervised visits while the twins live with her brother.
Tasha Patterson: “When I’m walking out the door, I hear them crying, ‘Mommy,’ through the door. If I’m this horrible person, why would my kids be crying for me? They want their mom, and I can’t be there the way I want to be there because these people are blocking me.”
Tasha’s second appeal is making its way through the courts. If Tasha loses, the twins will be put up for adoption.
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