October 24, 2005 Government to settle ‘brittle bones’ case Would pay $950K to family of man accused of abuse

The U.S. government has agreed to pay a West Virginia couple $950,000 for failing to diagnose a baby with brittle bone disease and instead accusing her parents of abuse, an attorney for the family said. Alice and Miguel Velasquez reached the deal with the government after presenting their case at a bench trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. The agreement brings to an end an almost six-year battle between the couple and military doctors at Bethesda Naval Medical Center, whose reports resulted in charges of felony child abuse against Mr. Velasquez and kept Liliana in foster care for 18 months. “One of the most hideous things you could be accused of is abusing a baby,” said Dorothy M. Isaacs, an attorney for the parents. “Yes, you want to protect babies. But you don’t protect them by taking them from a loving home and accusing [their parents] of abuse without any evidence.” Marcia Murphy, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Baltimore, declined to comment on the case, saying the government cannot sign the settlement until the guardian ad litem for Liliana has had a chance to review it. Routine check-up

Miguel and Alice Velasquez are shown in this family portrait with children Tahlia (left), Corbin and Liliana, who was taken from her parents as an infant because of rib fractures. Both Tahlia and Liliana have brittle bone disorder, the family says.

The family was living in Alexandria, Va., when Alice Velasquez took four-month-old Liliana for a routine checkup at the Bethesda medical center in February 2000.

During the checkup, Mrs. Velasquez, an enlisted Army medical lab technician, asked about some bumps she had noticed on the baby’s ribs.

When an X-ray revealed multiple rib fractures, Mrs. Velasquez informed them that bone diseases ran in her family.

However, hospital staff never tested the child for brittle bone disease and instead insisted the fractures could only be the result of child abuse, according to Isaacs. They concluded this even though Liliana was bruise-free and didn’t show signs of shaken-baby syndrome, the lawyer noted.

The doctors contacted child protective services in Alexandria, Va., where the couple lived at the time, and their daughter was promptly placed in foster care.

Miguel Velasquez, Liliana’s primary caregiver, was arrested and charged with felony child abuse. He was also placed on a state registry of child abusers.

“These people went through absolute hell,” said Isaacs, who practices with Surovell Markle Isaacs & Levy in Alexandria. She represented the Velasquezes with Patricia Ann Smith, who also practices in Alexandria.

Things started to turn for the couple when the public defender assigned to Miguel Velasquez’s criminal case obtained court funding for Liliana to be tested for osteogenesis imperfecta, a genetic disorder characterized by bones that break easily. The test came back positive and Alexandria nolle prossed the charges in January 2001.

Despite the test results, Liliana remained in foster care until July of that year. Her doctors still wouldn’t concede that the girl’s injuries were caused by brittle bone disorder, and child protective services wanted to be certain she would be safe.

The city preferred to err on the side of caution, Isaacs suspected, especially following the death of another toddler under its protective custody that year, who had been returned to her parents just weeks earlier.

Virginia did not remove Velasquez from its registry of child abusers until ordered to do so by the state Court of Appeals in August 2004.” (Delete reference to his conviction; as stated a few paragraphs earlier, the charges were dropped.

Meanwhile, in July 2003, the couple filed suit against the federal government for medical malpractice, intentional infliction of emotional distress and malicious prosecution in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. The case was reassigned to Baltimore and was being heard in a bench trial earlier this month when the parties decided to settle.

While Judge Richard D. Bennett has agreed to the settlement, a judge in West Virginia must still approve it on Liliana’s behalf before Bennett can sign the order, Isaacs explained. She hopes that will be done this week.