Doctor Describes Child's Injuries

By 250 News

                *Warning:  some readers may find the following  testimony very disturbing.  Be advised it is very graphic in detail*    

The Coroner’s inquest into the death of Amanda Jean Simpson continues today. 

Dr. M. Colbourne, a Vancouver Paediatrician and an MD with the Child Protection Service  at BC Children’s Hospital took 31 minutes today to describe the injuries suffered by 4 year old Amanda Jean Simpson  prior to her death. She died after the parents removed the life support system on November 2-1999.

Dr. Colbourne described the young girl’s injuries as very, very, very severe.

A compound fracture to the skull, running both ways on the skull; a major trauma to the front of her head which resulted in blood building up behind the eyes;   a fractured collar bone, bruising to her body which included bruises under her arms, also below her waist, bruising of the left hip; a ruptured stomach in which the lining of the stomach had been pulled away and air had become trapped between the walls; blood in the stomach that may have been caused by a cut tongue; bruising of the legs, bruising on the elbows and  bleeding from both ears . “You just don’t get these kinds of injuries from a fall down the stairs” said Dr. Colbourne.  He also could not give an explanation of why the little girl’s body temperature was 31.7 degrees when she was brought into the hospital.

The step father, Ronald Polson says he gave Amanda a shower after she had thrown up on his bed. She was unconscious when her older sister brought her upstairs. Polson says she received the injuries in a fall downstairs and a further fall when he went to take her into the bathroom to try and get her revived in the shower. Polson says he had the little girl in the shower for between 2 and 3 minutes, but Dr. Colbourne testified  he didn’t believe that much time in the shower could reduce a child’s body temperature.

Dr. Colbourne testified that a fall from a second story window would not likely produce as many injuries. He said it would take being struck by a car to produce this type of injury.

Colbourne said it was his opinion “These injuries came from blunt force blows, and the  stomach  detachment could have come from a violent shaking.”  

Pathologist, Dr Glen Taylor, who performed the autopsy on Amanda, told the inquest  “ I can’t imagine that a fall down a set of stairs and a subsequent fall on to the bathtub would produce these kind of injuries”.  He said less than 5% of the falls down stairs produce skull fractures.

Questioned by Rich Gabruch, the lawyer for the family,  if it was possible that a fall down the stairs could have resulted in this type of shaking injury, Taylor said  it is possible ,”But it is my opinion they occurred from a forward backward motion.”  Dr. Taylor said there was only one other time he had seen injuries so severe, that was when a child’s head had been run over by a vehicle.

Amanda died in November of 1999 three days after being taken to Hospital in Prince George and subsequently transferred to Vancouver.  While charges were laid in connection with her death, the matter never went to court as the charges were stayed.

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Editor’s Note:

Comments:

1.  It breaks my heart to think  about what this poor girl faced  -----"Spring"

2.Why eight years to hear that there is enough evidence to charge someone?  Why? ------"Runner46"

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