An ER doctor was charged with abusing his baby. But 15 medical experts say there's no proof.

MILWAUKEE — Dr. John Cox knew as soon as he heard the baby’s cry that he had hurt his 1-month-old adopted daughter. He’d accidentally fallen asleep while cuddling the girl in bed early one morning last May, he said, and must have turned on top of her.

Cox, 39, a pediatric emergency room doctor at Children’s Wisconsin hospital, sat up, panicked. His hands shook as he assessed the baby, he said, fearing that he’d smothered her. She wasn’t in distress, but he said he could tell from the way she was moving her left arm that he might have broken her collarbone, a common injury in infants that typically heals on its own without medical treatment.

Cox called his wife, Dr. Sadie Dobrozsi, who was out of town with their two older children, and cried as he explained what had happened. Dobrozsi, a pediatric oncologist at the same hospital, said she told him to calm down and asked to video chat. The baby appeared fine to her, but to be safe, Dobrozsi suggested that Cox take her to see her pediatrician.

“That’s what normal parents who aren’t doctors would do,” she told him.

Wisconsin father at risk of losing his baby after reported abuse
FEB. 5, 202001:55
What followed, according to more than 15 medical experts who later reviewed Cox’s case, was a series of medical mistakes and misstatements by hospital staff members that has devastated Cox’s family and derailed his career. A nurse practitioner on the hospital’s child abuse team confused the baby’s birthmarks for bruises, according to seven dermatologists who have reviewed the case. A child abuse pediatrician misinterpreted a crucial blood test, four hematologists later said. Then, two weeks after the incident, armed with those disputed medical reports, Child Protective Services took the child.

“In hindsight,” Cox said in a recent interview, “taking her to our own hospital was the single most harmful decision that we made for our baby.”

Children’s Wisconsin officials declined interviews and did not respond to detailed written questions. In a joint statement with the Medical College of Wisconsin, which employs physicians who practice at the hospital, officials said they could not comment on a pending legal matter.

“Prevention of child abuse and neglect is core to Children’s mission of caring for kids,” the statement said. “We take seriously our responsibility to protect children and take action on their behalf.”

Shortly after this article's publication, Children's Wisconsin pledged to investigate its handling of child abuse cases.

Cox and Dobrozsi’s story demonstrates the remarkable power granted to child abuse pediatricians, a small but growing subspecialty of doctors who work closely with child welfare agencies and whose work was the subject of an NBC News and Houston Chronicle investigation. Some of the doctors have at times overstated the certainty of their conclusions, the investigation found. Child welfare agencies and law enforcement officials often rely on their reports as the sole basis for removing children and filing criminal charges, sometimes in spite of contradictory opinions from other medical specialists.

DO NO HARM: A Devastating Diagnosis
Several Children’s Wisconsin specialists were among those who reviewed Cox’s case and wrote reports concluding that there was little reason to believe that he or anyone intentionally harmed his daughter, but that has not persuaded authorities in Wisconsin. Despite the growing stack of exculpatory medical reports and dozens of letters of support from fellow physicians who describe Cox as a caring and gentle father, the state placed the girl in foster care weeks after the incident, and now, eight months later — after another child abuse pediatrician reviewed the case on behalf of the state and agreed that the baby was abused — a prosecutor has filed felony abuse charges against Cox.

If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison.

Matthew Torbenson, the Milwaukee County deputy district attorney who brought the charges, declined to comment, citing a temporary gag order that was issued at his request on Thursday, just hours after an NBC News reporter contacted him requesting an interview.

Officials from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families also declined to comment, citing a state law that prevents the agency from disclosing details about child welfare investigations. After receiving specific questions about the case from NBC News on Friday, the agency sent a reporter a cease and desist letter warning of possible criminal charges for publishing information contained in a child abuse investigation file.

This article is based on hours of interviews with Cox and Dobrozsi, conducted prior to the issuance of the gag order, as well as a review of records filed as part of the criminal case against Cox in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.