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This article was published in partnership with KING 5 (KING-TV), an NBC subsidiary in Seattle.
TACOMA, Washington – For more than three years, authorities in Washington state have regarded Dr. Elizabeth Woods as one of their go-to experts in suspected child abuse cases, often based on her medical opinions. to determine when to take children from their parents. or lay criminal charges.
But this winter, Woods stepped down as director of the Child Abuse Intervention Program at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma, and last month she was taken off the small list of doctors who provide medical care. expert medical reports to the state child welfare agency, hospital. and state officials confirmed. Some area prosecutors have also sent letters to defense attorneys, revealing that Woods’ credibility as an expert witness has been called into question.
The changes follow an NBC News and KING 5 (KING-TV) investigation a year ago which revealed that Woods, 39, provided false information when testifying under oath as to why she had failed. never received any key training to become certified as a medical expert in child abuse matters. . The investigation also looked at four cases in which child protection workers took children away from their parents based on Woods’ reports – including some in which Woods misstated key facts, according to a review. records – despite conflicting opinions from other medical experts who said they had seen no evidence. abuse.
Mary Bridge officials initially defended Woods’ work in a statement to reporters last year, saying she had “significant experience in the area of child abuse.” But in an internal letter sent to hospital staff on the same day that the NBC News and KING 5 investigation was released, on February 14, 2020, the president of the hospital’s parent company announced that executives at Mary Bridge had asked an outside expert to review the child abuse program under Woods’ leadership, according to a copy of the letter obtained this month by NBC News and KING 5.
This expert review identified “suggestions to improve our structure and process” in the child abuse program and led the hospital to initiate “changes to its medical staffing and leadership model. Mary Bridge spokeswoman Marce Edwards Olson said in an email to reporters this month. . Amid these ongoing changes, Edwards Olson wrote, Woods “left Mary Bridge to pursue other opportunities.”
Woods did not respond to messages seeking comment, and officials at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital did not respond to questions about the circumstances of his departure.
His exit was celebrated by several parents – many of whom joined together in a Facebook group titled “Families Wrongly Accused by ‘Dr.’ Elizabeth Woods ”- who say that Woods’ flawed reports led state child welfare services to unnecessarily separate them from their children. And it raises questions about the future of any outstanding child abuse case that hinge on its expert medical findings, legal experts have said, possibly opening the door for parents or their lawyers to challenge the state case against them.
Among doctors contracted to review child abuse cases for Child Protective Services in Washington, the NBC News and KING 5 report showed Woods was the only one lacking decades of experience in the field. review of child abuse cases and never completed the training now required. to become certified in Pediatric Pediatrics, a medical subspecialty dedicated to differentiating accidental childhood injuries from those that may have been inflicted.
Nancy Gutierrez, spokesperson 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 contract with the state.
Kathryn Mueller, a spokesperson for the Seattle children, confirmed that the hospital removed Woods from the list on February 19, after he left Mary Bridge. But Mueller suggested Woods could join the program in the future, writing in an email that Woods “has been temporarily taken off the list while she establishes her job as an independent contractor.”
But even if Woods resumed her work as a state consultant on child abuse, questions remain about how her expert testimony would be received in Seattle-area courts.
Two area prosecutors revealed to reporters last week that they had added Woods to internal lists of law enforcement officials and other prosecution experts whose veracity has been disputed. As of June 25, the Pierce County District Attorney’s Office, where Mary Bridge is based, has been sending letters to defense attorneys in all pending criminal cases involving Woods, advising them of “potential impeachment evidence” against her, as well as a copy of the NBC KING 5 News and Investigation.
Woods was asked to provide evidence to challenge his inclusion on the list, but did not do so, a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office said.
Prosecutors added Woods to a similar list in Thurston County last week, and officials in neighboring King County, which includes Seattle, said they have started a review to determine whether they need to do the same.
In Kitsap County, prosecutors said they had started reviewing all of Woods’ expert reports following last year’s press report and had since called in additional medical experts in some cases. criminal law to verify the accuracy of Woods’ conclusions. Following the news of Woods’ recent departure from Mary Bridge, the Kitsap County District Attorney’s Office has contacted the hospital for additional information and is considering whether it should also add him to its roster of experts. of potentially discredited prosecution.
“Law enforcement is required to provide us with information about the credibility of their employees,” Kitsap County District Attorney Chad Enright said. “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’ expert medical reports began to emerge months after he took on the role of medical director of the Mary Bridge Child Abuse Response Team in 2018, based on a review of case documents and interviews with accused families. Among those who raised concerns: at least three other doctors, a superior court judge and a child welfare worker who said Woods had urged her to take custody of a 9-year-old girl without first fully reviewing the child’s chart and medical records.
In a 2018 case, featured in the NBC News and KING 5 investigation, Child Protection Services abducted two children from their mother, Megan Carter, after Woods reported that Carter abused her daughter with abuse. 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 a factual basis.”
Carter said her two children, now aged 7 and 11, were still in therapy after their one-year separation.
“It just feels like we can breathe a little more now, and I feel like I’m a little less worried,” Carter said, reacting to the news of Woods leaving. “The worry she caused and the trauma she caused in our family will always be there. It will never go away completely.
As Woods no longer works on behalf of the state, it’s unclear what will happen to the pending child protection cases she’s consulted on. A spokeswoman for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, which serves as legal counsel to the state’s child welfare agency in thousands of civil addiction cases, said he It was not possible to quickly calculate the number of pending CPS cases involving Woods.
“Our five division heads who oversee child abuse and neglect cases are aware of the concerns that have been made public,” said Brionna Aho, the spokesperson. “They have followed and will follow up on any concerns.”
In the meantime, Woods is still listed as a potential expert witness in at least 17 pending criminal cases in the Seattle area and has provided expert reports or testified in at least 23 others, according to records provided by the regional prosecutors.
Prosecutors with pending cases involving Woods said it was not immediately clear whether his departure from Mary Bridge would have an impact on those cases, with some stressing that they would seek additional medical experts to corroborate his findings if necessary.
In a pending case in Kitsap County, Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Baylen Armendariz, now 21, was charged in 2019 with abusing his infant twins based on Woods’ report to authorities that the only plausible explanation for their fractured bones was “a motor vehicle collision.” or abuse. Three outside medical experts reviewed the twins’ medical records on behalf of Armendariz and concluded that the fractures were likely the result of a mineral deficiency that could lead to weak bones vulnerable to fractures.
Armendariz has pleaded not guilty to the abuse charges and this year agreed to a deal with prosecutors that allows him to visit his now 2-year-old twins three times a week under the supervision of their grandmother. If she follows the deal, all charges against her will be dropped and she will regain custody of the twins when the deal expires in February 2026.
Although she was relieved to be able to see her children again, she is heartbroken that she cannot bring them home for another five years.
After learning of Woods’ departure from Mary Bridge, she said she hoped authorities would re-examine the evidence.
“I would like the case to be considered by the court,” she said. “Be aware of the possibility that there are medical problems. It is not all about child abuse. “
Taylor Mirfendereski reported from Tacoma, Washington, and Mike Hixenbaugh reported from Houston.
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