It takes a village
to kill a child
Byline: Marty
Trillhaase
Published:
06/28/98
Hillary
Clinton has popularized the African proverb that an entire community - the
village - is responsible for all of its children. Rearing and looking out for
the welfare of children is a responsibility that extends beyond the parents.
So how do you explain a village that allowed William Genther to suffer a
lifetime's worth of pain in nine short weeks?
His injuries included:
1. More than 20 rib fractures
2. A broken leg
3. A broken arm
4. A damaged thymus
5. Spine damage
6. A bruised tongue
7. A torn lip
8. A bruised anus
9. An injury to his brain caused by shaking so violent that it ruptured the
vessels in his retina and caused bleeding into his skull.
The boy died April 17.
Testifying at the preliminary hearing of the man charged with the baby's murder,
19-year-old Benjamin Genther - the boy's father - medical experts from Utah
established a pattern of severe child abuse.
But even Utah Medical Examiner Maureen Frikke and Helen Britton, medical
director of the Child Protection Team at Primary Children's Medical Center in
Salt Lake City, had to admit the Genther case involved some forms of abuse they
had not seen before.
All of which had 7th District Magistrate Judge Mark Rammell asking the same
question several times as he ordered Benjamin Genther to stand trial for murder:
How could a little boy be repeatedly brutalized until his life was spent without
someone coming to his rescue?
"I do believe there are sincere people that felt like the baby was fine,''
Rammell said in his ruling Thursday. "But the medical evidence is
overwhelming, and it's disturbing. It's a tragedy. It's not just a broken leg, a
terrible bruising of the tongue, bruising to the rectum. To have doctors that
come from metropolitan areas and who see thousands of cases and to (hear them)
say they have never seen some of these injuries before on a child this age is
telling."
A jury will decide who murdered the baby. Last week's preliminary hearing left
no doubt about the cause of death - sustained and multiple beatings. The chain
of evidence and witnesses left the judge truly anguished about what he had seen
over the course of three days.
"It's awful to look at the autopsy photos, to go through those post-mortem
findings and to see the numerous injuries, the new injuries, the healing
injuries, the partially healed injuries and the nearly healed injuries, new and
acute injuries,'' Rammell said. "It's disconcerting because it appears it's
pretty easy for a lot of people not to pick up on that. We've had to look within
this child literally, inside-out, to find the evidence as to what has happened
to this child.''
No doctor, no relative, no friend filed a report of abuse with the Idaho
Department of Health and Welfare. Idaho law requires professionals who deal with
children - doctors, nurses, hospital interns and residents, social workers,
day-care providers and teachers - to report suspected cases of child abuse
within 24 hours.
Is it a matter of doctors not detecting the telltale signs - and alibis - that
signal abuse? Perhaps. Recognizing these clues and acting on them may require
physicians and other professionals who deal with children to acquire a new set
of skills.
Is it a matter of not helping families at risk? Certainly this state can do
more. There are programs in Idaho to assist young, impoverished families
confront the burdens of parenting. So far, the state has refused to pay for
them. It's time Idaho lawmakers do so. Abuse is not isolated to Rexburg or
eastern Idaho. The Child Welfare League of America reported last year that Idaho
had the nation's highest child abuse rate.
You hear in the fervent prayer of a county magistrate the hope that some good
comes of William Genther's suffering, that people will learn from this sorry
episode:
"For heaven's sakes, with these tragedies, I hope there's a certain wisdom
that we all gain so that these kinds of tragedies don't happen again.''
Maybe it's unfair to say a village can kill a child.
But a village can certainly save one.
