DSS chief says doctors erred in Haleigh case

SPRINGFIELD -- The state's child welfare chief said his agency did not tell the state's highest court that Haleigh Poutre might be getting better because doctors convinced him that she would never recover from a vegetative state.

Department of Social Services Commissioner Harry Spence has been criticized for moving too quickly to try ending Poutre's life support and for not seeking more medical opinions on her chance for recovery.

Authorities say Haleigh, who is now 12 and in a Boston rehabilitation hospital, was beaten nearly to death, allegedly by her adoptive mother and stepfather.

Spence said Haleigh was showing signs of responsiveness about a week before the Supreme Judicial Court granted permission to remove her life support. But he said Haleigh's doctors reported that her movements were not a sign she would recover.

''When there was evidence there were signs of improvement, we insisted the doctors reexamine Haleigh and come back to us," Spence said yesterday in a telephone interview. ''They absolutely affirmed that the chances of her recovery were absolutely zero. There was nothing for us to report to the SJC."

Immediately after the SJC's Jan. 17 ruling that Haleigh's life support could be removed, Spence said, he ordered the girl's doctors at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield to examine her again. ''They said, 'Oops, we're seeing signs of consciousness,' " Spence said.

Haleigh was soon moved to the Franciscan Hospital for Children.

Her stepfather, who faces assault charges and could have been charged with murder if she had died, had fought to keep the girl connected to a feeding tube and ventilator.

Haleigh's adoptive mother, who also was charged with assault, died alongside her grandmother in a murder-suicide shortly after Haleigh was hospitalized.