(C) Wisconsin Watch This story was originally published by Wisconsin Watch and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Embattled former UW child abuse pediatrician resigns Alaska position [1] ['Michelle Theriault Boots', 'Anchorage Daily News', 'Brenda Wintrode', 'Wisconsin Watch', 'More Michelle Theriault Boots', 'More Brenda Wintrode', 'Roy W. Howard Fellow', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class', 'Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus'] Date: 2022-01-28 17:14:52+00:00 Reading Time: 3 minutes Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on government integrity and quality of life issues. Sign up for our newsletter for more stories straight to your inbox. The embattled head of Alaska’s statewide child abuse forensic clinic — who also left the University of Wisconsin under a cloud of controversy — will soon resign, Providence Alaska Medical Center said. Alaska CARES medical director’s Dr. Barbara Knox “has chosen to pursue other opportunities and will be resigning,” Providence spokesman Mikal Canfield said in a written statement. The final day for Knox, who “asked to resign,” will be April 1, Canfield said. Knox did not respond to a request for an interview. Her resignation comes days after the Anchorage Daily News and Wisconsin Watch published the story of Emily and Justin Acker, a Fairbanks-area military family who said Knox misdiagnosed their newborn daughter’s brain injuries as abuse, leading them to lose custody of their two children for most of a year. Emily Acker holds her 1-year-old daughter, Izabel, at their home on Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska, on Jan. 13, 2022. Justin and Emily Acker were erroneously accused of abusing Izabel as a newborn. Medical experts found the injuries the baby suffered when she was 3 weeks old likely stemmed from her traumatic birth. Credit: Emily Mesner / Anchorage Daily News Experts hired by the Ackers found Knox’s diagnosis of abusive head trauma was wrong and ignored Izabel’s serious birth injuries. A forensic psychologist found Emily Acker no danger to her children — and a judge agreed. It wasn’t the first time Knox’s medical judgment and workplace behavior had been scrutinized. In November, Providence said it had launched an investigation into Alaska CARES after a wave of departures that included every member of the medical staff other than Knox. At the time, Providence said it was “aware of increasing concerns about the workplace environment” of the clinic. Former clinic employees said they had made dozens of complaints over the course of months to Providence management about what they described as bullying and unprofessional behavior by Knox, with no response. Providence declined to answer questions about the outcome or findings of the investigation, citing the confidentiality of personnel records. Before becoming medical director of Alaska CARES in 2019, Knox left her position leading the Child Protection Program at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, after being placed on paid leave while the university investigated allegations she’d intimidated and bullied colleagues who disagreed with her. Knox’s parting settlement agreement, uncovered by Wisconsin Watch, meant future employers, like Providence, and medical credentialing boards didn’t know the details of why she had left the UW. After Wisconsin Watch told the story of a Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, family wrongly accused by Knox of child abuse in early 2020, numerous families and caregivers came forward to share similar stories. Support our fact-checked journalism One-time Monthly Annually One-time Donation amount $ Monthly Donation amount $ Annually Donation amount $ Your contribution is appreciated. Donate Now Wisconsin Watch and the Anchorage Daily News found at least a dozen instances in which Knox’s diagnoses of abuse were later rejected by child welfare authorities, the courts, law enforcement or other doctors. Some parents lost custody of their children at least temporarily, and multiple caregivers and parents were criminally charged on the strength of Knox’s testimony. “If her resignation is a cover-up from Providence to allow her to leave quietly like she did in Wisconsin, then they need to be held accountable for allowing the possibility that this will occur to more families in more states in the future,” Emily Acker said in a text message. In an opinion column published by Wisconsin Watch, former Alaska CARES forensic nurse examiner Sarah Wood said Knox “repeatedly said with ‘99.9% certainty’ her medical diagnosis was the correct one, eliminating any other options. She often shopped from her long list of colleagues in the Lower 48 until she got her confirmation, discrediting and mocking those who disagreed or questioned.” Stacy Hartje was accused in 2007 of abusing a 3-year-old child who collapsed while in her care. She saw a county prosecutor issue and then drop charges due to a lack of evidence — only to later face two trials on revived state charges. A jury found Hartje not guilty of all charges in October 2015. Hartje’s saga was among a dozen cases Wisconsin Watch found in which Dr. Barbara Knox’s assessment of child abuse was rejected by the criminal justice system, child protective services officials or other physicians. Hartje was photographed in downtown Baraboo, Wis., on Aug. 24, 2021. Credit: Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch Wisconsin Watch’s coverage included the story of Stacy Hartje, who spent eight years and $250,000 to clear her name after being wrongly charged with abusing a boy at her home day care in Mauston. “Reading all the stories of so many she’s accused and hurt just makes my blood boil,” Hartje said. Hartje’s lawyer, Stephen Meyer, said Knox’s resignation does not solve the problems she created. Asked Meyer: “Who gives back those portions of people’s lives that she took?” This story was a collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and the Anchorage Daily News. The Fund for Investigative Journalism provided financial support. The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates. Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. Close window X Republish this article This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Scroll down to copy and paste the code of our article into your CMS. The codes for images, graphics and other embeddable elements may not transfer exactly as they appear on our site. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles for free using the following ground rules. Credit should be given, in this format: “By Dee J. Hall, Wisconsin Watch” Editing material is prohibited, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and in-house style (for example, using “Waunakee, Wis.” instead of “Waunakee” or changing “yesterday” to “last week”) Other than minor cosmetic and font changes, you may not change the structural appearance or visual format of a story. If published online, you must include the links and link to wisconsinwatch.org If you share the story on social media, please mention @wisconsinwatch (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram), and ensure that the original featured image associated with the story is visible on the social media post. Don’t sell the story or any part of it — it may not be marketed as a product. Don’t extract, store or resell Wisconsin Watch content as a database. Don’t sell ads against the story. But you can publish it with pre-sold ads. Your website must include a prominent way to contact you. Additional elements that are packaged with our story must be labeled. Users can republish our photos, illustrations, graphics and multimedia elements ONLY with stories with which they originally appeared. You may not separate multimedia elements for standalone use. If we send you a request to change or remove Wisconsin Watch content from your site, you must agree to do so immediately. *** Also, the code below will NOT copy the featured image on the page. You are welcome to download the main image as a separate element for publication with this story. *** You are welcome to republish our articles forusing the following ground rules. For questions regarding republishing rules please contact Jeff Bauer, digital editor and producer, at jbauer@wisconsinwatch.org Embattled former UW child abuse pediatrician resigns Alaska position

Embattled former UW child abuse pediatrician resigns Alaska position

by Michelle Theriault Boots / Anchorage Daily News and Brenda Wintrode / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
January 28, 2022

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on government integrity and quality of life issues. Sign up for our newsletter for more stories straight to your inbox.

The embattled head of Alaska’s statewide child abuse forensic clinic — who also left the University of Wisconsin under a cloud of controversy — will soon resign, Providence Alaska Medical Center said.

Alaska CARES medical director’s Dr. Barbara Knox “has chosen to pursue other opportunities and will be resigning,” Providence spokesman Mikal Canfield said in a written statement. The final day for Knox, who “asked to resign,” will be April 1, Canfield said.

Knox did not respond to a request for an interview.

Her resignation comes days after the Anchorage Daily News and Wisconsin Watch published the story of Emily and Justin Acker, a Fairbanks-area military family who said Knox misdiagnosed their newborn daughter’s brain injuries as abuse, leading them to lose custody of their two children for most of a year.

Emily Acker holds her 1-year-old daughter, Izabel, at their home on Eielson Air Force Base near Fairbanks, Alaska, on Jan. 13, 2022. Justin and Emily Acker were erroneously accused of abusing Izabel as a newborn. Medical experts found the injuries the baby suffered when she was 3 weeks old likely stemmed from her traumatic birth.

Experts hired by the Ackers found Knox’s diagnosis of abusive head trauma was wrong and ignored Izabel’s serious birth injuries. A forensic psychologist found Emily Acker no danger to her children — and a judge agreed.

It wasn’t the first time Knox’s medical judgment and workplace behavior had been scrutinized. In November, Providence said it had launched an investigation into Alaska CARES after a wave of departures that included every member of the medical staff other than Knox. At the time, Providence said it was “aware of increasing concerns about the workplace environment” of the clinic.

Former clinic employees said they had made dozens of complaints over the course of months to Providence management about what they described as bullying and unprofessional behavior by Knox, with no response.

Providence declined to answer questions about the outcome or findings of the investigation, citing the confidentiality of personnel records.

Before becoming medical director of Alaska CARES in 2019, Knox left her position leading the Child Protection Program at American Family Children’s Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, after being placed on paid leave while the university investigated allegations she’d intimidated and bullied colleagues who disagreed with her. Knox’s parting settlement agreement, uncovered by Wisconsin Watch, meant future employers, like Providence, and medical credentialing boards didn’t know the details of why she had left the UW.

After Wisconsin Watch told the story of a Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, family wrongly accused by Knox of child abuse in early 2020, numerous families and caregivers came forward to share similar stories.

Support our fact-checked journalism

Wisconsin Watch and the Anchorage Daily News found at least a dozen instances in which Knox’s diagnoses of abuse were later rejected by child welfare authorities, the courts, law enforcement or other doctors. Some parents lost custody of their children at least temporarily, and multiple caregivers and parents were criminally charged on the strength of Knox’s testimony.

“If her resignation is a cover-up from Providence to allow her to leave quietly like she did in Wisconsin, then they need to be held accountable for allowing the possibility that this will occur to more families in more states in the future,” Emily Acker said in a text message.

In an opinion column published by Wisconsin Watch, former Alaska CARES forensic nurse examiner Sarah Wood said Knox “repeatedly said with ‘99.9% certainty’ her medical diagnosis was the correct one, eliminating any other options. She often shopped from her long list of colleagues in the Lower 48 until she got her confirmation, discrediting and mocking those who disagreed or questioned.”

Stacy Hartje was accused in 2007 of abusing a 3-year-old child who collapsed while in her care. She saw a county prosecutor issue and then drop charges due to a lack of evidence — only to later face two trials on revived state charges. A jury found Hartje not guilty of all charges in October 2015. Hartje’s saga was among a dozen cases Wisconsin Watch found in which Dr. Barbara Knox’s assessment of child abuse was rejected by the criminal justice system, child protective services officials or other physicians. Hartje was photographed in downtown Baraboo, Wis., on Aug. 24, 2021.

Wisconsin Watch’s coverage included the story of Stacy Hartje, who spent eight years and $250,000 to clear her name after being wrongly charged with abusing a boy at her home day care in Mauston.

“Reading all the stories of so many she’s accused and hurt just makes my blood boil,” Hartje said.

Hartje’s lawyer, Stephen Meyer, said Knox’s resignation does not solve the problems she created.

Asked Meyer: “Who gives back those portions of people’s lives that she took?”

This story was a collaboration between Wisconsin Watch and the Anchorage Daily News. The Fund for Investigative Journalism provided financial support. The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

This article first appeared on Wisconsin Watch and is republished here under a Creative Commons license. Copy to Clipboard [END] --- [1] Url: https://wisconsinwatch.org/2022/01/embattled-former-uw-child-abuse-pediatrician-resigns-alaska-position/ Published and (C) by Wisconsin Watch Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-ND 4.0 Intl. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/wisconsinwatch/