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Autism death probed /
Police search doctor's office
April 11, 2007
By Kim Paskorz Eagle Staff Writer
MUDDYCREEK TWP State police have
searched a doctor's office as part of an investigation into the
death of a 5-year-old autistic boy.
The child, Abubakar Tariq Nadama,
went into cardiac arrest and died Aug. 23, 2005, after receiving his
third dose of chelation therapy at the Advanced Integrative Medicine
Center, under the care of Dr. Roy E. Kerry.
According to the warrant, the
search on Monday was done after the state attorney general's
Medical/Legal Advisory Board on Child Abuse agreed the procedure
performed by Kerry, 68, "rose to the level of acting in a reckless
and grossly negligent manner."
One of the board members reportedly
said Kerry, "gave the wrong medicine in the wrong way and in an
inappropriate manner."
No one has been charged, and Butler
County District Attorney Randa Clark described the search as a
fact-finding mission of sorts.
"At this point I don't have enough
information to determine if a crime has been committed," she said.
According to the warrant, the police are treating the case as a
possible involuntary manslaughter, and it was hoped the search would
help investigators determine what the doctors and staff knew about
the therapy and the drugs used prior to Nadama's death.
The search warrant said police
planned to find the boy's medical records, as well as medical tools
and procedure books used in his treatment.
No one returned a telephone message
left on the answering machine Tuesday at the center's Portersville
location, which is just off Interstate 79.
Office staff at the center's main
location in Greenville, Mercer County, said the doctor, who is a
board-certified physician and surgeon, could not answer the
telephone because he was with a patient. He did not return the call.
The search warrant, signed by
District Judge Clifford Woessner, said the doctor's Greenville
office also was searched.
Court officials in Mercer County
said a search warrant was issued, but they would not confirm what
police were looking for or where.
"We are glad the state police
investigation is progressing," said Pittsburgh attorney John
Gismondi, who represents the boy's family. "Anything that can shed
further light on what happened that day, and why, is a good thing."
Nadama's parents, Rufia and Marwa
Nadama from England, have not sued the doctor or the medical center.
But Gismondi said that still is a possibility.
Marwa Nadama brought her son to the
U.S. specifically to seek chelation treatment. Autism is a
developmental disability that affects a child's social interaction
and communication. There is no cure, but some people believe autism
is linked to a mercury-containing preservative once commonly used in
childhood vaccines.
Chelation therapy involves
injecting a synthetic amino acid called EDTA into the body to remove
the heavy metals through urine or feces.
Although the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration has approved chelation to treat lead and heavy metal
poisoning, it has not approved it for autism.
Some experts say the therapy has no
clear benefits for autism patients, but it has serious side effects,
including kidney damage and heart problems.
According to the search warrant,
the therapy that the boy received consisted of the administration of
Disodium EDTA and saline solution through an IV Push.
According to the search warrant,
that particular treatment was used even after another doctor advised
Kerry to use a different agent, called Calcium Disodium EDTA during
the treatment, and that Disodium EDTA should never be "pushed."
"Pushing," according to the
warrant, meant the solution was administered in a relatively short
time, 10 to 15 minutes, versus the slow process of an IV drip, which
could take hours.
A medical assistant at the center
reportedly told investigators the center had never used an IV push
to treat an adult patient. And, to her knowledge, the center had
never treated a child with chelation before Nadama, according to the
warrant.
During his third treatment, the
boy, who was accompanied by his mother, began to cry, then went limp
and stopped breathing, according to the warrant.
Dr. Kerry was not present when the
third treatment was administered by a medical assistant, according
to the warrant.
The assistant said she was
following the doctor's instructions. The boy's mother, along with a
doctor who had never before seen Nadama, and the center's
receptionist were in the room, according to the warrant.
A call to 911 was made as medical
professionals at the center attempted to resuscitate Nadama,
according to the search warrant. The boy was pronounced dead at
Butler Memorial Hospital. An autopsy determined Nadama's death was a
result of drugs used during the treatments. According to the search
warrant, Nadama's case later was reviewed by doctors with the state
attorney general Medical/Legal Advisory Board on Child Abuse. The
board included, among others, forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht.
Last fall, state officials filed
disciplinary charges against Kerry in relation to Nadama's death. At
the Department of State, Kerry was charged with six counts,
including engaging in unprofessional conduct and breaching the
standard of care.
According to the Associated Press,
the Department of State alleged, among other things, that Kerry
prescribed the IV push despite warnings that this method can be
lethal. He also prescribed the wrong formula of the drug, officials
said then.
If the State Board of Medicine
finds any of the charges to be true, Kerry could have his medical
license revoked, suspended or restricted and face fines up to
$10,000 for each violation. The Department of State's Internet site
lists Kerry's medical license, which was issued in 1965, as "in good
standing."
"A licensee is entitled to due
process and the fact that charges have been filed does not mean that
the licensee is guilty of the charges," said Leslie Amorıs, press
secretary for the department of state. "Disciplinary action will
only go on a licensee's record after the facts are reviewed via a
hearing and when a final adjudication order has been entered against
a licensee. In addition, if the prosecutors negotiate a consent
agreement, which is approved by the board, the disciplinary action
will also go on the record."
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