Crystal and Jarvis Bryant were typical first-time parents, doting on their child and panicking over every hint of distress. To add to their stress, their baby boy, Jace, had several medical issues that resulted in repeated trips to the emergency room and doctors.
Jace suffered from severe acid reflux and a condition known as dysphagia, which caused milk to travel down his wind pipe instead of his esophagus.
“When he was 3 weeks old, he spent 31 days in the hospital and had a feeding tube inserted into his nose and down to his stomach to help him get enough nutrients to survive. At almost 4 months old, Jace had surgery on his esophagus and to place a gastrostomy tube in his abdomen, so his parents could send formula straight to his stomach,” The Associated Press reported. “Then, just before Thanksgiving 2018, Jace was diagnosed with a viral infection that was causing fever and diarrhea. While Crystal showered and did her hair upstairs in their apartment, Jarvis was giving Jace his second bath of the day. Jarvis laid the baby stomach-down along his forearm as he bent over the bathtub, pouring soapy water over Jace’s back. The baby slipped sideways off Jarvis’ arm, his knee hitting the bottom of the tub.”
Jarvis consoled Jace when he started crying, but didn’t think anything was serious enough to tell Crystal. Later that afternoon, however, Crystal noticed Jace was favoring the leg he had hit and was in pain when she picked him up. She was already set to take him back to the hospital since his fever and diarrhea hadn’t gone away. While there, Jace’s leg was X-rayed and doctor’s discovered he had a fractured femur. Jarvis then admitted to his wife that he had accidentally dropped Jace. The couple said they were immediately treated as suspects after the injury was discovered. A full-body workup revealed Jace also had 10 fractured ribs and fractures on both his wrists, all of which were older than the leg injury and had been healing.
Jace was taken from the Bryants and they were charged with felony child abuse. Crystal had just obtained her nursing certificate and had it revoked when the charges were filed. Jarvis who worked for the U.S. Army, had his security clearance revoked, causing him to be reassigned to desk duty.
For the Bryants, the charge of child abuse was a surprise.
“Because of Jace’s feeding problems, nurses, physical therapists and occupational therapists — all required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse — had been to the Bryants’ home twice each week since he was 2 months old. They had stripped Jace naked weekly and weighed him on a portable scale placed on the table. Not one made any report of abuse or neglect,” the AP reported. “The baby had been to emergency rooms multiple times, often to replace the tube down his throat when his arms flailed and pulled out the tube, common for babies. Each time, medical staff took an X-ray to make sure it was in the right place. As a first-time mom and self-described ‘hovering parent,’ Crystal took Jace to the pediatrician at the first hint of illness.”
After Jace was taken, Jarvis began researching legal cases as well as medical cases. He came across the stories of two men who had been falsely accused of child abuse when their children actually had brittle bone disorder.
Two doctors looked at Jace’s X-rays. One discovered he wasn’t getting enough calcium due to the feeding tubes and suggested the age of the fractures meant they were actually caused by medical staff during one of his many medical procedures. Another doctor found that the acid reflux medication Jace was put on reduced his stomach acid, which also hurt his ability to absorb calcium.
Seven months later, Jace was returned to his parents. Three months after that, the criminal case against them was dropped.
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