A Washington doctor was removed from a list of abuse expert witnesses under contract in the state amid questions about her credibility.
Dr. Elizabeth Woods, 39, was taken off the list, which is managed by Seattle Children’s Hospital, now that she no longer works for Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma as a child abuse specialist.
A spokeswoman for the hospital confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Woods “has temporarily been removed from the list while she establishes her employment as an independent contractor.”
Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital has not disclosed the reason for Woods’s departure from its staff nor whether she did so of her own volition.
“As part of our work to constantly improve the care and services we provide, the department is undergoing changes to its physician staffing and leadership model,” the hospital said in a statement to multiple news outlets earlier this month. “Dr. Woods has left Mary Bridge to pursue other opportunities.”
Concerns about Woods’s credibility raised questions on previous cases she’s testified on.
In one instance, Woods accused a mother of abusing her daughter by pushing on her excessive and harmful medical treatments. That accusation meant that Megan Carter’s daughter and son were removed from her care for a year. After being questioned about the details of her allegations, the judge ruled that the majority of Woods’s testimony was made “without supporting factual basis.”
At a hearing in 2019, Carter’s lawyer asked Woods to explain her qualifications as a child abuse identification expert. When asked whether she had received specialized medical training or passed a board certification test, she said that she hadn’t.
“There are approximately 250 of us nationwide that function as child abuse consultants,” Woods said, according to NBC, citing an audio recording of her testimony. “And a very small minority of those have received training, as the training just started about three years ago. So I was already well into my career prior to that being offered and have established my credibility through extensive experience.”
Contrary to Woods’s testimony, the fellowship program was created about 15 years ago, according to the outlet, when Woods was still in medical school. To be certified by the American Board of Pediatrics, the fellowship program was required for those who entered training after January 2010.
According to data from 2019, 375 child abuse pediatricians were then certified by the board. Woods was not one of them.
Carter’s children were subsequently returned to their mother.
“It just feels like we can breathe a little bit more now, and I feel like I worry a little bit less,” Carter said in response to the news of Woods’s departure. “The worry that she has caused and the trauma that she has caused in our family is always going to be there. It’s never going to completely go away.”
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Should Woods be allowed to return to the witness stand in the same capacity, it is likely that attorneys would call her reliability into question. Prosecutors in Pierce County, where Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital is based, have begun notifying defense lawyers in all pending criminal cases involving Woods, notifying them of “potential impeachment evidence” against her.
The Washington Examiner contacted Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital and Seattle Children’s Hospital for comment.
