Lakeside Pediatrics

In 2023, my child was a patient at Lakeside Pediatrics. During this time, I experienced what I believe to be unfair and harmful treatment from their staff, particularly from Kayla Ellis, a social worker employed by the clinic.

Here are some of the key incidents that caused me pain and distress:

1. False Statements: Kayla Ellis made statements to the Idaho Department of Health & Welfare that were false and damaging. For example, during a court ordered investigation into the child's mother for abuse and neglect of my daughter, Kayla covered for the child's mother by saying there were no concerns with her, and instead, intentionally and falsely claimed I was preventing my child from receiving necessary medical care, which she knew to be a lie.
2. Misrepresentation of My Actions: Kayla suggested that I was aggressive and recorded appointments. When she made this claim, I had not recorded any appointment. After this however, I did record a single appointment to show how I was treated by Lakeside Pediatrics.
3. Interference with Medical Decisions: Lakeside Pediatrics’ actions led directly to the loss of my medical decision-making authority for my daughter, which was devastating for me as a parent, and puts my daughter—in Lakeside Pediatrics own words—at risk of impairment, illness, and death.

These experiences left me feeling betrayed, powerless, and deeply hurt. I tried to hold Lakeside Pediatrics accountable by filing a lawsuit, but the case was dismissed due to a prior legal action I had taken while undergoing psychiatric treatment caused directly by the false statements made by Lakeside Pediatrics. While I am no longer able to pursue legal action, I believe it is important to share my story.

Background

In early 2023, I discovered that my child’s (K.E.N.) mother had engaged in extensive medical abuse and neglect of our daughter, dating back to her birth.

As part of this abuse, the mother falsely told medical professionals and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (IDHW) that our child was malnourished because I had enforced a vegan diet. She later admitted in court that this claim was entirely fabricated, as neither I or my daughter have ever been vegetarian or vegan.

The most significant issues were:

1. The mother had not been adequately feeding our daughter, resulting in a diagnosis of "failure to thrive" in February 2023 due to severe malnourishment.
2. Our daughter was suspected to have hearing loss, but the mother consistently refused to allow a hearing test, including the standard newborn hearing screening at the hospital. She gave no reason as to why she didn't get the test.
3. The mother refused all recommended childhood vaccines. She has been adamently opposed, and has never told me why.
4. The mother had blocked my attempts to get any information about our daughter's health. It was when I made a visit to the pediatrician alone and requested medical records that I discovered the truth. This issue of medical abuse and neglect was the direct cause of my filing for divorce.

Notably, I have always wanted my daughter to receive all recommended medical care. In addition, as soon as I found out my daughter was malnourished, I took charge of her diet and she gained weight faster in two weeks than she ever has, before or since.

Lakeside Pediatrics’ Involvement

In February 2023, I sought to have our daughter receive care at Lakeside Pediatrics. Despite this, the child’s mother continued to deny treatment and falsely accused me of obstructing care, seemingly to shift blame onto me.

In October 2023, I brought the mother's abuse and neglect to the attention of the court, and a judge ordered IDHW to investigate the mother. Lakeside Pediatrics was fully aware of the mother’s medical abuse and neglect, lies, and her attempts to blame me.

Despite this knowledge, Lakeside Pediatrics chose to cover for the mother and intentionally provided false information to IDHW during the court ordered investigation. The most egregious lies they told include:

1. “Kayla said James will not allow an actual medical exam of K.E.N.”*– This statement was verbally communicated by Kayla Ellis of Lakeside Pediatrics to Worker Tanner of IDHW during an interview between October 12, 2023, and October 30, 2023.
2. “She [Kayla] said K.E.N. is in need of a hearing test and to have her tonsils and adenoids removed, but James is not allowing this medical care to take place.”* – This statement was also verbally communicated by Kayla Ellis of Lakeside Pediatrics to Worker Tanner of IDHW during the same interview period.
3. “There are no concerns for the level of case that Maria provides for K.E.N.”

In my opinion, Lakeside Pediatrics knew they were lying, and did so with the express purpose of shielding the child's mother from accountability, and to falsely shift blame onto me.

Aftermath

The court reviewed these false statements from Lakeside Pediatrics in IDHW’s report and solely from this, concluded that I was the one interfering with medical care, while the child’s mother was deemed totally innocent. I was shocked at how badly the court, IDHW, and Lakeside Pediatrics could fail a child, even in the face of obvious child abuse and neglect by the mother.

As a direct result of these lies, I suffered a severe mental breakdown in January 2024 and was hospitalized for months as a direct result of this. Not only was my child being abused by the mother, but I was then blamed for it, and nobody stood up for me to get my daughter medical care. Prior to this, I had never required psychiatric treatment.

Despite my efforts to inform the court that Lakeside Pediatrics had lied, the court ignored my pleas and granted my ex-wife permanent sole medical decision-making authority over our daughter, based solely on the false information provided by Lakeside Pediatrics.

The child’s mother is strongly opposed to routine recommended medical care. By lying, Lakeside Pediatrics has directly enabled a neglectful and abusive mother to have permanent unaccountable sole control over our daughter’s medical care, when they could have just told the truth. Because of what Lakeside Pediatric's said, I can never again have any say in getting my daughter medical treatment.

Lakeside Pediatrics has never apologized in response. Rather, their concern is about defending themselves.

In an effort to hold Lakeside Pediatrics accountable for what I believe were false and harmful statements, I filed a lawsuit against them. Unfortunately, the case was dismissed with prejudice because I had previously filed a lawsuit against them and dropped it while I was in psychiatric treatment. This legal outcome was deeply disappointing, but it does not change the fact that I believe their actions caused significant harm to me and my child.

While I am no longer able to pursue legal action, I hope that by sharing my story, I can raise awareness and prevent others from experiencing similar harm.

For more information, here's some of what I filed:

• Amended Complaint
• Memo in Support of Motion for Partial Summary Judgment
• Statement of Facts in Support of my Motion for Partial Summary Judgment.