To Save a Baby

Gregory David Bryant-Bruce Jr. was born June 10, 1993, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. Eight-and-a-half weeks pre-mature, he weighed only 2 pounds, 6 ounces at birth. At the time, his father, Gregory David Bryant-Bruce Sr., was a helicopter pilot in the Army, and his mother, Cheryl Bryant-Bruce, an emergency room physician in the Army, was completing her certification in family practice.

The Bryant-Bruces were already the parents of two adopted children, but Baby Gregory was their first natural-born child. As is often the case with children born so prematurely, Baby Gregory had health problems, almost from the beginning. On July 17, just six weeks after his birth, he was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). His parents suspected that his liver was not functioning properly. After examining Baby Gregory, Vanderbilt doctors diagnosed nutritional problems and “sunken eyes.” They also diagnosed a “paucity” of bile ducts.

Vanderbilt physicians began giving Baby Gregory Vitamin D and Vitamin K. They also insisted that Cheryl Bryant-Bruce stop breast-feeding. Baby Gregory stayed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center until Aug. 4, but he was back on Sept. 11, this time because of a “bleeding disorder.” On Oct. 23 he returned to Vanderbilt because of a respiratory problem. Three days later he was back for a Vitamin K deficiency. On Dec. 7, Vanderbilt doctors treated Baby Gregory for “severe anemia,” “intracranial hemorrhaging,” and “retinal hemorrhaging.”

Over the course of Baby Gregory’s numerous visits to VUMC, relations between the Bryant-Bruces and Vanderbilt became more and more strained. As early as September 1993, Cheryl Bryant-Bruce complained to medical center doctors about Baby Gregory’s care; she alleged that, when she arrived for one visit, she had found the infant lying in his own vomit and feces. What’s more, the Bryant-Bruces had suggested to the Vanderbilt doctors that Baby Gregory might be suffering from Allagile’s Disease, a genetic disorder linked to intracranial and retinal bleeding. The Bryant-Bruces were concerned that the doctors were ignoring their suggestions and instead were pursuing other diagnoses.

The Vanderbilt doctors, meanwhile, were concerned that Baby Gregory’s problems might be, at least in part, the result of parental neglect. In an affidavit that was later filed in federal court, Dr. Niki Oquist, the physician who eventually took charge of Baby Gregory’s care at Vanderbilt, has said that the child seemed to be suffering from “medical neglect” and “failure to thrive.” Doctors had suspicions that Baby Gregory’s mother was not giving him his Vitamin K, which was prescribed to help his blood clot.

As early as September, when Baby Gregory was admitted to the medical center for treatment of a “bleeding disorder,” doctors in Vanderbilt’s Pediatric Intensive Care Unit began to suspect child abuse. According to Oquist’s written statement, the suspicions were so great that he contacted the state Department of Human Services (DHS). In December, Oquist formally diagnosed that Baby Gregory suffered from the condition known as “Shaken Infant Syndrome.”

DHS began interviewing Gregory and Cheryl Bryant-Bruce. During those interviews, the Bryant-Bruces asked DHS to consider other possible causes for Baby Gregory’s condition; they even provided written information about Allagile’s Disease. All those requests, the couple later said, were either “ignored, dismissed, or ridiculed.”

Two days before Christmas 1993, DHS filed a petition of child abuse, and the state took custody of Baby Gregory. In March 1994 the Montgomery County Juvenile Court in Clarksville, where the Bryant-Bruces were then living, ruled that there was evidence that Baby Gregory had been abused. The Bryant-Bruces appealed the case to the circuit court. The abuse charges were upheld in August 1994.

All the while, Baby Gregory was living with a Nashville family selected by Catholic Social Services, an agency that often contracts with the state to arrange foster homes for children who are in DHS custody. The Bryant-Bruces were granted only supervised visitation rights, but the child’s physical condition did not improve—Baby Gregory was in the hospital no fewer than 36 times during his 13-month stay in the foster home.

In the meantime, in June 1994, the Bryant-Bruces had moved to Atlanta, where they hoped to have Baby Gregory examined by doctors at the Emory Egleston Hospital Pediatric Care Foundation. Tennessee’s Department of Human Services, however, denied the couple’s request to have the child examined in Atlanta.

Emory officials requested that Vanderbilt provide copies of Baby Gregory’s medical records. The Bryant-Bruces allege that, after several requests, Vanderbilt sent “incomplete” records.

It’s hard to say whether what happened next was the desperate act of a heroic mother or a display of sheer stupidity. One thing is certain: Cheryl Bryant-Bruce’s actions on Feb. 9, 1995, launched a court case that would ultimately involve Johnnie Cochran, the attorney made famous by the O.J. Simpson trial, and would turn into a public-relations nightmare for Vanderbilt as the university was forced to defend itself against charges of racial discrimination.