Infant found, back in hospital
SEATTLE – A seriously ill 9-month-old boy taken from Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center was resting comfortably at Children’s Hospital across town on Saturday, authorities said.
A statewide Amber Alert was canceled after police recovered Riley Rogers when they pulled over a vehicle around 12:20 a.m. Saturday in Yelm, southeast of Olympia.
Police said his mother, Tina Carlsen, hid the boy in a diaper bag and took him from Harborview on Thursday morning. She was ordered held on $500,000 bail.
Children’s Hospital confirmed Saturday morning that the infant was in satisfactory condition after being admitted around 3 a.m.
The boy had been scheduled for surgery at Harborview to treat what relatives described as a kidney ailment. It was not immediately known if the surgery had been rescheduled.
In a statement released late Saturday morning, Children’s Hospital referred all other inquiries to the Child Protective Services division of the state Department of Social and Health Services. A call to a DSHS spokeswoman was not immediately returned.
The child became a ward of the state June 9, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, after months of back-and-forth between medical professionals, who had insisted that he get dialysis, and his parents, who favor herbs, vitamins and other alternative treatments.
DSHS spokeswoman Kathy Spears confirmed Friday that the child was in the agency’s protective custody.
Todd Rogers, the boy’s father, told the P-I that his wife believed she was doing the right thing. “She honestly believes that if Riley has that surgery, he’ll die. I don’t share that belief – we’ve argued about it – but she is his mother and that’s her gut instinct,” he said.
Police detained and questioned a man and a woman who were in the vehicle with the boy and his mother. Police spokeswoman Deanna Nollette declined to identify them or characterize their relationship to Carlsen.
The vehicle was pulled over at the intersection of state Highway 507 and Highway 510, near a house detectives had staked out. Nollette declined to say who lived there.