OSF Concealed Medical Evidence in Child Removal Case, Federal Court Filing Alleges

The parents at the center of Krueger v. Petrak have filed a new court briefing alleging that OSF St. Francis Medical Center concealed or altered key medical records used to justify taking their three sons into state custody. The filing—titled Supplemental Briefing in Support of the Motion for Sanctions Against OSF for Failure to Preserve ESI—was submitted on June 12, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

According to the motion and prior filings in the case, OSF failed to retain critical electronic data during a 2019 child abuse investigation that resulted in the boys’ removal for 467 days. The plaintiffs argue that the missing or altered records may have prevented an accurate medical assessment and contributed to a mistaken diagnosis of “medical child abuse.”

Source: Family Justice Resource Center

At the center of the new filing is a pulse oximetry test performed overnight on February 22–23, 2019, ordered during a hospital admission coordinated by Dr. Channing Petrak. But according to court records—including prior motions and internal DCFS documentation submitted as exhibits—this was not a routine admission for treatment. It was initiated to investigate whether BB’s symptoms were real or the result of fabricated illness—what Petrak later labeled “medical child abuse.” Dr. Petrak is a child abuse pediatrician under contract with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. She also serves as board president of the National Children’s Alliance, a nonprofit that receives federal funding from the U.S. Department of Justice to oversee and accredit Children’s Advocacy Centers nationwide.

The oximetry test results, now submitted into evidence, show that BB’s oxygen saturation dropped below 89% for 1 hour and 13 minutes—well below the clinical threshold for significant hypoxia. His levels ranged from 56% to 100%, with an average of 94.9%. Spending more than 8% of the night below 89% typically suggests an underlying respiratory condition.

Docket #237, Exhibit B: Overnight Oximetry Results

According to additional court filings, BB had already been diagnosed with Xia-Gibbs Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by hypotonia, developmental delays, and sleep-disordered breathing—symptoms that are consistent with the test results.

Yet according to the plaintiffs, the oximetry test was never mentioned in Dr. Petrak’s final report—a critical omission, they argue, given that the test directly supported a medical explanation for BB’s symptoms. By excluding the results, the plaintiffs contend, Petrak presented an incomplete clinical picture that contributed to a finding of fabricated illness. They also note that the test appears in OSF’s electronic medical record system under three different dates—January 23, 2019; February 22, 2019; and November 3, 2020—raising concerns that it may have been mislabeled or deliberately obscured. OSF has not produced the audit trail data that would show when the record was accessed, modified, or suppressed.

The supplemental briefing also reveals that at least 18 “sticky notes”—a form of internal messaging used by hospital staff within the EMR system—were deleted. The plaintiffs allege these informal notes likely contained contemporaneous clinical impressions and that their deletion further compromised the integrity of the medical record.

To determine the extent of the missing or altered data, the Kruegers are asking the court to authorize a forensic examination of OSF’s Epic electronic medical record system.

The motion also seeks court-imposed sanctions against OSF for failing to preserve electronically stored information (ESI), as required under federal civil procedure rules. The plaintiffs argue that OSF had a legal obligation to retain these records once litigation was reasonably foreseeable and that its failure to do so may also violate federal standards for medical record integrity under HIPAA.

Named defendants in the broader lawsuit include OSF, Dr. Petrak, and ten DCFS officials in their individual capacities: Jennifer Inness, Alisa Collins, Kimberly Taylor, Leandra Tate, Raelyn Galassi, Austin Haddock, Anita Parker, Angelique Maxwell, Lindsay Horcharik, and Kimberly Wilson.

To understand how contracted child abuse pediatricians influence investigations—and how their findings can shape the outcomes of cases like the Kruegers’—visit www.famjustice.org/toolkit.