Two petitions are circulating to end the career of Sally Smith, the Florida doctor responsible for numerous CPS removals of children from their homes.
According to the petitions, Smith has a history of falsely claiming child abuse making way for heart-wrenching cases like American Idol’s Syesha Mercado.
Smith first came onto the radar when a video of Mercado and her partner being pulled over so that CPS could take their second child, a newborn, away from them went viral. Mercado had previously taken her eldest child to the hospital for dehydration and was accused of denying the child necessary medical treatment. Her son, a toddler, was taken by CPS and has yet to be returned to his parents.
After a massive outcry that even Kim Kardashian weighed in on, their newborn daughter was returned to her parents late last week.
However, their ongoing case placed malpractice by child abuse doctors in the spotlight, and Smith has gained the reputation of being one of the most troubling.
In December 2019, Smith was one of many doctors mentioned in an expose on pediatricians who misdiagnose abuse and cause children to be removed from their parents. Floridians Vivianna Graham and her husband lost custody of their son when Smith diagnosed a subdural bleed due to violent shaking. Their son had actually suffered a seizure.
Three independent experts, including a neurosurgeon, disagreed with Smith’s findings, and after seven months, the baby was returned.
Last year, the USA Today Network conducted its own investigation into several of Smith’s cases, one of which ultimately led to the ongoing incarceration of a father whose child accidentally choked on a pear.
Now, activists want Smith to pay the ultimate cost of her career. One petition is calling for her to be terminated in part due to the handling of the Mercado case.
“This doctor too hastily diagnoses child abuse, ripping apart families. We ask that Pinellas County Child Protective Services and her affiliated hospitals strongly consider terminating her contract due to her actions. The Florida Department of Health should investigate this case to consider license termination due to acting below the standards of medical care,” the petition reads.
So far, it has almost 15,000 signatures.
Another petition is calling for Smith to lose her medical license. That petition has about 470 signatures.
Mercado and her partner are still working on getting their toddler back home.
