ASHLEY FAITH WRIGHT - 3 yo - (2010) Hurricane (W of Charleston) WV

Friday January 14, 2011

Mother held in child's death

Woman allegedly failed to take girl with cystic fibrosis to appointments, did not fill prescriptions
A Putnam County woman accused of refusing to provide medical
care for her chronically ill 3-year-old daughter has been charged with
neglect resulting in the child's Dec. 29 death.
Tracy Lynn Schaible Wright, 28, of Hurricane was arrested Thursday at her Seville Circle apartment.
Her daughter, Ashley Faith Wright, had cystic fibrosis, an inherited
chronic disease that affects the lungs and digestive system, causing the
body to produce unusually thick, sticky mucus that can clog the lungs
and lead to infection, according to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
A criminal complaint filed in the case indicates that while the woman
often failed to fill life-saving prescriptions for her ill daughter, or
to give her the medications when they were filled, the mother received
numerous prescriptions from several doctors in 2010 and filled them all.
Paramedics were dispatched to an apartment in Poca on Dec. 29 after
Ashley was found unresponsive. The paramedics attempted to revive the
girl, but she was pronounced dead at Thomas Memorial Hospital in South
Charleston, according to a complaint filed in Putnam Magistrate Court.
An autopsy performed at the state Medical Examiner's Office determined
that fluid had built up in the girl's lungs. The medical examiner
notified Detective R.S. Johnson at the Putnam Sheriff's Department and
requested further investigation.
Johnson, who was not available for comment Thursday, looked through the
child's records on file with the state Department of Health and Human
Resources and Child Protective Services and found that CPS had received
no fewer than 12 referrals, or allegations, for Ashley between June 2008
and December 2010 regarding her care and treatment.
Inquiries to child services for this story were referred to John Law,
spokesman for the state DHHR. Law said he couldn't comment on specific cases.
Among the referrals were allegations that Tracy Wright was refusing to get medical treatment for Ashley, the complaint said.
Johnson spoke to Dr. Raheel Khan, who had been treating the girl's cystic fibrosis.
Khan told detectives Monday that Ashley should have been seen in his
office every three months but of her 12 appointments seven were
cancelled or missed when the girl was not brought to the office, the complaint said.
The doctor told detectives he personally called Tracy Wright in August
2009 to express his concerns regarding Ashley's medical care.
Khan sent a letter to DHHR expressing his concern about the girl's
missed appointments in September 2010. The doctor wrote that Ashley had
been diagnosed in early infancy and there always had been problems with
compliance with recommended treatment plans.
The doctor's letter stated that cystic fibrosis was a progressive
illness and without proper care could shorten the patient's life span.
He told detectives people with cystic fibrosis have a life expectancy
into their mid-30s with proper care and treatment.
Khan told investigators he last saw the child in November and was
"alarmed" to find she had lost so much weight since her last visit.
The doctor said her weight loss and the buildup of fluid found in her
lungs during the autopsy were indications she was not getting the proper
medications. He said he had prescribed medications for the girl but
also gave her mother samples of the drugs.
Ashley was supposed to return to Khan's office Dec. 15 but did not. She died two weeks later.
Dr. Angela Ferguson, the child's primary care physician, told detectives
she saw Ashley's sister, 6-year-old Emma Grace Wright, frequently but
had seen Ashley only at birth and again when the girl was 2 months old.
Child Protective Service workers left a message for Tracy Wright on Jan.
13, 2010 reminding her to make an appointment for her daughter at the
cystic fibrosis clinic. The worker called back the same day and found
the mother had not made the appointment.
Wright told a child services worker in February she had not been making
appointments for Ashley. An appointment with Khan was set up for Feb. 17
and the girl did attend.
At the appointment Tracy Wright told the doctor she had been giving her
child the appropriate medicine, but when Khan contacted the child's
pharmacy, he was told no medications had been picked up for the girl in
the last six or seven months.
He called the medications "life-saving medications to help slow the progression of CF," the complaint said.
Child Protective Services workers found on April 20 that the mother
still had not gotten the child's medication. Nine days later, child
services was informed the girl still was without medication but the
mother had "no problem taking herself to the doctor," according to the complaint.
A worker met with Wright April 29 and asked her if she had been giving
Ashley the prescribed medications, and she replied "here and there." She
then told the worker she would get the child's medication the next day.
The worker met again with Wright May 3 and was told by the woman that
she couldn't get the prescription filled until later that day after she
received her check in the mail. The complaint says the worker pointed
out that the mother had a state medical card for the little girl.

http://www.dailymail.com/News/PutnamCounty/201101131467

Wright Charged With Child Neglect Resulting In Death

Failed To Get Treatment For Three-Year-Old Daughter

By Mark Hallburn
Publisher, PutnamLIVE.com

Winfield - A Putnam County mother is charged with theTracy Wright unthinkable: Refusing to care for her sick child, causing her death.

Tracy Lynn Schaible Wright, 28, of Seville Drive, Hurricane, was arrested Thursday morning, January 13th, 2011, after an investigation by the Putnam County Sheriff's Department, court records state.

Wright's three-year-old daughter, Ashley Faith, suffered from Cystic Fybrosis. She died December 29th, 2010, after Wright failed to care for her, deputies say.

Paramedics were dispatched to the Wright's apartment, in Poca, where the Ashley reportedly was unresponsive. She was transported to Thomas Memorial Hospital, in South Charleston, where doctors were unable to save her life.

An autopsy performed by the West Virginia Medical Examiner's office indicated fluid on Ashley's lungs.

Wright allegedly did not have her little girl's prescriptions filled, or didn't administer the drugs, but took care of her own prescriptions.

Detective R.S. Johnson, of the Putnam County Sheriff's Department, investigated the case and found there were 12 referrals about Ashley to Child Protective Services, between June of 2008 and December of 2010.

It is not known why C.P.S. did not intervene and place Ashley into protective custody. A call, seeking comment, to the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Services has not been returned.

Dr. Raheel Khan was treating Ashley's cystic fibrosis. He says Ashley should have been examined every three months. However, seven of her 12 appointments were either cancelled no-showed.

Wright reportedly told detectives that her car was broken, but admitted having another car, access to rides from an in-law, but managed to drive her boyfriend to his work.

In a November visit to his office, Khan says he was alarmed at Ashley's condition. He states that he provided samples and prescriptions for her care. He reports that a December 15th appointment was missed. Two weeks later, Ashley was dead.

But Travis Sigmon, who says he is a friend of Tracy, says she gave little Ashley medicine. "They got it wrong," he says.

Ashley's sister, Emma Grace, six, has been placed in the custody of relatives.

During a hearing in Putnam County Magistrate Court, Wright's bond was set at $50,000,by Putnam County Chief Magistrate Kylene Dunlap-Brown, jail records state.

After the hearing, Wright was transported to the Western Regional Jail and Correctional Facility, in Barboursville. Officials booked and photographed her at 12:10 p.m., according to the jail's web site.

Wright's Putnam County Magistrate Court case number is: 11F, 23.

Thursday, January 19, 2012
Hurricane woman gets life in prison for daughter's death

Kate White
WINFIELD, W.Va. -- A Putnam County judge said he thought of a child gasping for air in the last months of life while he sentenced a Hurricane mother to spend the rest of her life in prison for murdering her 3-year-old daughter.

Last October, jurors found Tracy Wright, 29, guilty of murder of a child by a parent by refusal or failure to supply necessities, and child neglect resulting in death. Prosecutors argued Wright failed to provide necessary treatment to keep her daughter, Ashley, a cystic fibrosis patient, alive.

Circuit Judge Phillip Stowers said during Wright's sentencing Thursday that his time spent as a paramedic taught him someone could only survive a few minutes without air.

Because of the suffering Wright's daughter endured during her last six months of life "fighting for every breath of air, I can't forgive you," Stowers said.

Wright was sentenced to life in prison for murdering her daughter, and three to 15 years for child neglect resulting in death.

The jury's sentence last year came with mercy, meaning Wright will be eligible for parole in 15 years. Stowers said Wright would receive 342 days credit for time already served.

Wright's mother, Teresa Kidd, of Poca, sat in the courtroom as her daughter's sentence was pronounced. Kidd adopted Wright's 6-year-old daughter at the end of last year.

David Moye, Wright's attorney, said she would appeal the verdict. He argued during the three-day trial that although state Child Protective Services had been involved for about a year, they had not removed Ashley from her mother's care.

He also claimed that MRSA, an infectious bacterium, could have resulted in pneumonia and caused Ashley Wright to die.

Dr. Nabila Haikal, with the state medical examiner's office, performed an autopsy on Ashley. She testified during the trial that she ruled the death a homicide based on CPS and police reports.

Haikal had said Ashley had pneumonia when she died, and that the lack of medications to treat her cystic fibrosis is what "brought her early demise."

Cystic fibrosis is a lung disease, and Haikal said that people who suffer from that disease are more susceptible to pneumonia.

Moye attempted to have Haikal and other witnesses admit they couldn't say the child would have lived even with the appropriate medications and treatment.

The doctor and other witnesses disagreed, and said that with appropriate treatment and medication, a cystic fibrosis patient can live into adulthood.

- See more at: http://www.wvgazette.com/News/201201190080#sthash.eZMpgD30.dpuf