Attorneys for Irish nanny Aisling Brady McCarthy have said a doctor rewrote and revised his report on the death of toddler Rehma Sabir after another medical expert said the infant did not die from
a rare genetic disorder.
Ms Brady McCarthy is accused of killing Rehma Sabir in her family's apartment near Boston.
The Co Cavan woman, who has been in jail since January 2013, has pleaded not guilty.
The paediatric opthalmologist, who is also an expert on child abuse, apparently revised, rewrote and revamped his report on the child's death after another expert said the infant did not die from Hyperimmunoglobulin E Syndrome, also known as Job's Syndrome.
“There’s a suggestion that this is not his original report. It apparently had been revised. Words are repeated, sentences are inserted. Sentences don’t make sense to the reader,” defence counsel David Meier said.
He added that the paediatric opthalmologist concluded that the infant died of abusive head trauma despite a minimal amount of retinal haemorrhaging which is common in head trauma cases.
Mr Meier's co-counsel, Melinda Thompson, said it appeared the medical expert initially believed that the toddler's injuries could have been caused by Job's Syndrome, but changed that opinion after he read a report by a second medical expert.
Ms McCarthy's defence team have asked a judge in Massachusetts to allow them to question the medical experts without a jury being present in order to determine how they came to their conclusions.
The attorneys claim that a prosecutor in the case also provided those same experts with other information which led them to conclude that the child, Rehma Sabir, died from abusive head trauma while in Ms McCarthy’s care.
Mr Meier said prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has had “ongoing communications” with at least three medical experts who are expected to testify at trial against McCarthy, and failed to provide her defence team with full information about those interactions.
In fact, Mr Meier noted, he had found at least 10 instances in one expert’s report that are directly attributable to Mr Fitzpatrick, including information about a bloody baby wipe and statements made by a neighbour who lived over McCarthy’s apartment outside Boston, Massachusetts
“He provided each of these experts with facts that haven’t been proven in court,” said Mr Meier, who said he wanted to question those experts to determine whether their opinions were influenced by the prosecution team.