What’s the harm of “better safe than sorry” in cases where abuse is ambiguous? One mother’s story is our answer to that question. 

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One pediatrician’s path to Pennsylvania, and the rise of a powerful new field in child medicine. 

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The story of how this extraordinary situation in the Lehigh Valley came to light — because it almost didn’t. 

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In the summer of 2023, reporter Dyan Neary received a tip about a problematic doctor in Pennsylvania. Families were claiming that when they sought medical care for their children, this pediatrician falsely accused them of abuse, and their children were taken away from them. The Preventionist traces this doctor’s decades-long career across multiple states, and explores the rise of a new and powerful kind of specialist, the “child abuse pediatrician” — whose decisions can be incredibly difficult to challenge.

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