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Doctors Face Charges in Foster Child Abuse Case
Reported by John Klekamp
Web produced by Kelly Reynolds

	The two doctors are due back in court on June 11. Video

Two doctors who have never been in trouble before have found themselves at the center of a controversy involving the death of a four-year-old boy.

An emergency room doctor and an internist were charged with failure to report child abuse in the death of Rufus Young.

The four-year-old foster care child was examined by these doctors in February at Children's Hospital of Michigan. According to the prosecutor, the doctors failed to report bruises on the child's body that may have been evidence of prior abuse.

Six weeks later, Rufus was beaten to death. His foster father, Roderick Hall, is charged with 1st-degree murder. The doctors entered not guilty pleas and they were released on personal bond. They declined to comment afterwards but their attorneys did speak briefly.

"My client is absolutely innocent and acted in both a medically and ethically appropriate manner and everything that she has done in her professional career, she is a very upstanding physician and will continue to be so," said Lisa Kirsch Satawa, defense attorney.

The crime is a misdemeanor here but it does go to doctors' reputation. Last week, the head of Children's Hospital went on record defending these two doctors who are due back in court on June 11th.

Related story:
- Doctors Charged in Beating Death of Foster Child

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