KAIRISSA MARK - 4 yo -(2010) Mt Juliet (E of Nashville) TN

Mount Juliet TN ---- Deborah Mark was a respected pediatrician. Her husband Steven Mark was a stay at home dad.

The couple had just adopted a 4-year-old girl from China in April. On July 1, police were called to their Providence subdivision home. The 4-year old was not responsive.Wilson County paramedics got her breathing again, but the girl died at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital six days later.

Mount Juliet officers found evidence of abuse on the child's body. "Our officers also observed evidence of possible abuse and requested the criminal investigation unit to send some detectives out," said Mount Juliet Police Chief Andy Garrett.

When investigators presented their evidence to the Wilson County grand jury this morning, the panel indicted the couple on a number of felony charges.

Deborah Mark was indicted on seven felony counts, including first-degree murder. Steven Mark is charged with eight felony charges, including accessory after the fact and aggravated assault by failure to protect.

"It's a personal feeling that you work hard on a case. It gives the little girl justice, that's our main goal," said Bonnie Harris, a lead investigator in the case.

The couple are out of jail on bond. A hearing is scheduled July 23 at the Lebanon courthouse. Their 8-year old biological child is in state custody.

TomTerrific0420 wrote:Mount Juliet TN ---- Deborah Mark was a
respected pediatrician. Her husband Steven Mark was a stay at home dad.The
couple had just adopted a 4-year-old girl from China in April. On July
1, police were called to their Providence subdivision home. The 4-year
old was not responsive.Wilson County paramedics got her breathing
again, but the girl died at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital six days
later.Mount Juliet officers found evidence of abuse on the
child's body. "Our officers also observed evidence of possible abuse
and requested the criminal investigation unit to send some detectives
out," said Mount Juliet Police Chief Andy Garrett.When
investigators presented their evidence to the Wilson County grand jury
this morning, the panel indicted the couple on a number of felony
charges.Deborah Mark was indicted on seven felony counts,
including first-degree murder. Steven Mark is charged with eight felony
charges, including accessory after the fact and aggravated assault by
failure to protect."It's a personal feeling that you work hard on
a case. It gives the little girl justice, that's our main goal," said
Bonnie Harris, a lead investigator in the case.The couple are out
of jail on bond. A hearing is scheduled July 23 at the Lebanon
courthouse. Their 8-year old biological child is in state
custody.

Wow.... seems baby killers come from all walks of life. A doctor....

http://www.healthgrades.com/directory_search/physician/profiles/dr-md-reports/dr-deborah-mark-md-69bcd744

Dr. Deborah Mark practices pediatrics in Lebanon, Tennessee. Dr. Mark graduated with an MD 13 years ago.

A pediatric doctor at that!

A Wilson County pediatrician accused of
killing her adopted daughter is still legally able to practice medicine
in the state of Tennessee. That's because there is no law or rule
providing an automatic review of a medical license when a doctor faces
criminal charges.

A Wilson County grand jury indicted Dr.
Deborah Mark and charged her with one count of first degree murder, one
count of perpetration of aggravated child abuse, one count of aggravated
child abuse and four counts of child abuse. She is accused of killing
4-year-old Kairissa Mark.




Her husband, Steven, faces an 8 count
indictment. The charges are aggravated child abuse and neglect, criminal
responsibility for aggravated child abuse, aggravated assault by
failure to protect, accessory after the fact and four counts of child
abuse.

The Tennessee Board of Medical Examiners
oversees licensed health professionals. Board records show Doctor Mark
has never even faced disciplinary action. Her attorneys said that's not a
surprise. Jack Lowery and Jack Lowery Junior represent Dr. Deborah
Marks and Steven Marks.

"I've had several calls this morning from
people who talked about what a good doctor she was, how kind she was to
children in her treatment and her profession," said Lowery. "We're not
in a position to make any explanation at this point, because as he
eluded to this thing has happened so quickly that we're trying to get
our hands around what has occurred here."

The Lowery's said to their knowledge neither
parent has been in trouble in the past with the law.

"It's a highly emotional time. It's a
difficult time. They have another 8-year-old child that they're
concerned about as well," said Lowery, Jr.

The Mark's live in Mt. Juliet. Steven is a
civil engineer who is a stay-at-home dad. Dr. Mark graduated from the
Medical College of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in 1997. For three years
she did a pediatric residency at Cooper University Hospital in Camden,
New Jersey. The Lowery's said she's been practicing medicine in
Tennessee for 10 years.

Church officials said they regularly attend
the Donelson Fellowship Church in Donelson.

Lowery, Jr. said the Mark's are having a
difficult time dealing with the charges and the death of their adopted
daughter.

"So, a family has been completely upset in
this process and so it's like anybody. It would be extremely difficult,"
said Lowery, Jr.

The attorneys said the Marks are both U.S.
citizens born and raised in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Both are free
after posting bonds on Monday.

The couple also has an 8-year-old biological
daughter. She has been in DCS custody since the beginning of the police
investigation.

Doctor Mark is employed by Centennial
Pediatrics in Lebanon. Centennial has not returned our phone calls, but
they have removed her profile from their web site.

The Mark's are scheduled to appear in Wilson
County Criminal Court July 23 for an arraignment.

This was supposed to be Kairissa XingJing Mark's forever home.
On March 29, the 4-year-old's new family brought her home from China
to a big brick house in a cozy Mt. Juliet subdivision that is the
picture of the American Dream. There was a big fenced-in yard for her to
play in and pretty pink curtains in the upstairs bedroom window. In the
window next to the door, someone had taped a child's coloring of a
religious scene, the Good Shepherd guarding his flock.
But three months after her adoption, Kairissa is
dead, her adoptive family is shattered and the international adoption
community is reeling from the news of yet another horror story out of
Tennessee.Kairissa's mother, Dr. Deborah Wen Yee Mark, a pediatrician, stands
accused of beating her to death. Last week, a Wilson County grand
jury indicted Mark on one count of first-degree murder and eight counts
of child abuse. It also indicted her husband, Steven Joshua Mark, a
stay-at-home dad, on multiple counts of aggravated child abuse, child
abuse, failure to protect and of being an accessory after the fact.
The couple's 8-year-old biological daughter is in foster care. Police
say she told them she witnessed some of the attacks on her little sister.
Court date set
The Marks will be arraigned Friday and they intend to
plead not guilty, said their attorney, Jack Lowery Jr. Kairissa died at
Vanderbilt Children's Hospital on July 2, one day after police were
summoned to the family home by a report of a child in distress. Lowery
said the fact the case is already heading to court shows signs of a
"rush to judgment."The fact that a pediatrician, someone who devoted her entire career to
protecting other people's children, is accused of killing one of her own
adds to the horror of this case. Those who know the Marks best aren't
talking — their neighbors, their congregation at the Donelson Fellowship
Free Will Baptist Church, where they worshipped, her colleagues at
Centennial Pediatrics in Lebanon.
"She's a lady who, in the past several days, I have received numerous
calls in support of, telling me what wonderful care she took of (her
patients') children," Lowery said. "This is just a quality family. They
attended church here. They were very involved. They have suffered. Their
lives have absolutely been turned upside down."
The Marks, he said, spent a number of years attempting to adopt from
China. It's a process that has become increasingly difficult over the
years, as more and more countries have tightened their restrictions on
international adoptions to the United States.
Russian case was shock
In April, news broke that an adoptive mother from Tennessee had put her 6-year-old son on a plane
back to Russia, with a note saying she no longer wanted him. The
incident sparked an international uproar and threats of a moratorium on
further adoptions from Russia."We do expect changes to happen," said Chuck Johnson,
CEO of the National Council for Adoption, who has been in contact with
the Chinese government about the case. Overall, rates of abuse of
adopted children tend to be lower than among biological children, he
said, but "every tragedy is one too many."
China probably would hold off on any policy changes until there is a
conviction, but Johnson said there is already talk of requiring
additional follow-up visits after an adoption. Right now, China's
minimum requirements are home visits at the six-month and one-year mark
after an adoption."It's so unfortunate. Our hearts just break," Johnson said. "We see the
motivation and desire of most families who just want to bring a child
out of an institution and give them a home, have someone to call them
Mom and Dad. … And then to see something like this happen."
China cracks down
Local adoption agencies also are bracing for a possible backlash.China has already
cracked down on U.S. adoptions in recent years — it now bans adoptions
by single women, anyone who has ever taken medication for depression and
anyone with a body mass index of 40 or higher.
International adoptions have nosedived from a peak of 22,739 children
brought into the United States in 2005 to fewer than 13,000 in 2009. The
average wait to adopt a child from China ranges from more than four
years, for parents who want to adopt a perfectly healthy child, to an
average of nine months to two years for those willing to adopt a
"waiting child" — one with a diagnosed health problem.
Families screened
Prospective families undergo rigorous scrutiny, including background checks, home
visits and interviews with friends and family members. The Marks worked
with an as yet unidentified Nashville adoption agency, but most agencies
in the area follow the same basic precautions.Bethany Christian Services, a national adoption
agency with an office in Nashville, declined to say whether it was the
agency that helped the Mark family adopt Kairissa. But Tammy Bass,
director of Middle Tennessee Bethany, noted that any couple looking to
adopt overseas would have to run through the same rigorous background
check — starting with local criminal history checks and running all the
way up to a screening by the Department of Homeland Security, not to
mention financial history checks and visits from social workers.Bethany checks in with
its new families two weeks after an adoption and again at the six-month
and one-year marks, she said. Social workers check to make sure the
children are bonding with their new families and look for signs of
attachment disorders or other problems.
Adoption "can be a shock to your system," she said, explaining the
reasons for the home visits. "We stress the importance of staying
connected with the family, not just the two-week visit but beyond."The local Bethany
office has placed 25 children with new families so far this year, Bass
said."This isn't the norm, when you look at how many children" are thriving and happy in
their new homes, she said. "But the fact that a lot of (adoptions) are
going really well doesn't take away from this tragedy."

Wilson County pediatrician Deborah Wen-Yee Mark lost her license to
practice medicine Tuesday, a week after she was charged in the beating
death of her recently adopted daughter.
She and her husband, Steven Mark, a stay-at-home dad, are facing
child abuse and murder charges in
the July 2 death of 4-year-old Kairissa XingJing Mark.The two are scheduled
to make their first appearance in court Friday, but already the state
board of medical examiners agreed Tuesday that her license should be
suspended. They do not need a criminal conviction to take away a
license."This would mean immediate suspension," said Sara Whitehead, assistant general
counsel for the state department of health. "(Deborah Mark) and the
state agreed to suspend the license."
Mark agreed to surrender her license until the board makes a final
decision, likely after criminal proceedings are complete. Because she
consented, the board did not have much discussion at the hearing. Mark
was not present, and her lawyer, Jack Lowery Jr., could not be reached
for comment.Mt. Juliet police have said Deborah Mark, 39, delivered the fatal blow to
Kairissa's head on July 1. Kairissa was adopted in March from China.Emergency responders
were called to the Mark home in Mt. Juliet's Providence area for an
unresponsive child. She was taken to Monroe Carell Jr. Children's
Hospital at Vanderbilt, where she died a day later. An 8-year-old
biological daughter, who is in foster care, may have witnessed the
incident, according to police.

No discipline record

Deborah Mark has had a license to practice in Tennessee since August 2007, and it was set to be
up for renewal on June 30, 2011. She has never been disciplined,
according to state licensing records.She practiced at Centennial Pediatrics in Lebanon,
but her name has since been taken off the provider list on the
practice's website.Tennessee
records show that Mark graduated in 1997 from the Medical College of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, currently known as Drexel University, and
did her residency at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J.New Jersey online
documents show her license to practice in that state expired in 2009,
and no disciplinary action had ever been taken against her.Deborah Mark is free on
$150,000 bond. She is charged with first-degree murder, perpetration of
aggravated child abuse, aggravated child abuse and four counts of child
abuse.Steven Mark, 47, is free on $100,000 bond. He is charged with aggravated abuse
and neglect, criminal responsibility for aggravated child abuse,
aggravated assault by failure to protect, four counts of child abuse and
accessory after the fact.

I have taken my kids to Centennial Pediatrics for the past 4 years but the past year I have been taking them to walk in clinics to keep from taking them to see Deborah Mark. I did not like the care that she provided for my kids. I feel so sorry for that poor baby that lost her life. She should not have had to go through any of that.

Welcome to J4C Concerned Parent!
It is input from folks like you that we look for. You mention that the care you felt your child was getting (or not) from Dr Mark was sub-standard. Could you please elaborate as the MSM reports indicate that she has never had any complaints.

I took all three of my kids to Centennial Pediatrics and to me it seemed that Dr. Mark never knew what she was doing. She constantly misdiagnosed my children and she was sometimes hate to my children so I finally got fed up and stopped taking them in to see her. My sister also had a problem with her. My nephew is a special needs child and he can't walk or talk or sit up, etc. He is on a feeding tube and he cannot have anything by mouth. My sister called the on call service one night and Dr. Mark called her back and told her to give him water by mouth. He cannot have it and my sister tried to tell Dr. Mark but they just managed to get into an argument. After that was over with everytime I called for an appointment for my kids etc, Dr. Mark would get on the phone and tell me confidential information about my sister and my nephew that legally she wasn't allowed to tell me and she would tell me to send threats to my sister that if she didn't bring my nephew in that she would call cps. By then my sister had found him a new doctor and was taking him to see them. It was literally scary the way Dr. Mark took my sister standing up to her. If my sister had done as told by Dr. Mark my nephew would be dead. I have not took my kids back to Centennial Pediatrics in over a year and even though Dr. Mark is now gone from there I doubt I ever will. She was complained about by many people but they kept Dr. Mark on as the Dr. there anyway.

Welcome concerned-parent. That's terrible. I suppose unfortunately the complaints weren't in writing. I'm wondering whether the authorities have thoroughly checked her credentials. Maybe they were forged. It's happening more an more often these days.

Couple Formally Charged In 4-Year-Old's Death
Adoptive Mom Delivered Fatal Blow, Say Detectives
POSTED: 12:44 pm CDT July 29, 2010
UPDATED: 2:25 pm CDT July 29, 2010


MOUNT JULIET, Tenn. -- A pediatrician and her husband, both accused of killing their adopted daughter, have been formally charged.

Deborah Mark and her husband, Steven, were arraigned in a Wilson County court Thursday morning on charges related to the death of their 4-year-old daughter, Kairissa.

Deborah Mark faces charges of first-degree murder and multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.

Her husband was also indicted on charges of failure to protect and accessory after the fact in the death of the child.

The couple had just adopted the girl from China. The indictment revealed the extent of Kairissa's injuries to her thighs, face, hands, fingers, skeletal system, mouth and back.

Investigators said the couple abused the girl, but detectives said it was Deborah Mark who delivered the fatal blow to Kairissa's head July 1 at the family's Mount Juliet home.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/24439028/detail.html

China To Change Adoption Policies After Tenn. Case
More Regular, Lengthy Reports Likely For Future Adoptions
Reported by Caroline Moses
POSTED: 4:26 pm CDT August 3, 2010
UPDATED: 8:38 pm CDT August 3, 2010


The case of a Mount Juliet couple accused of abusing and killing their adopted child is now sparking an international response.

China, the country where Deborah and Steven Mark adopted their child from, may now change the way children can come to this country. It's the second time in a matter of months that a Tennessee family's behavior prompts international adoption sanctions.

Inside a Mount Juliet home, law enforcement say 4-year-old Kairissa Mark was severely beaten and abused from head to toe by her adoptive mother, Lebanon pediatrician Deborah Mark.

Deborah Mark and her husband, Steven Mark, had adopted Kairissa from China in April, less than four months before police found their new daughter dead.

Deborah and Steven Mark now faces charges in the child's death.

“It should be a reaction to what has occurred because we want to make sure we are doing our best practice, and doing home studies, and preparing families for an adoption,” said Julie Bolles with Catholic Charities.

No one will say who performed the Marks' home study, which decides if they would be fit parents. But whichever agency it was may now be "black listed" from future adoptions with China.

In response to this latest incident, the China Center of Adoptive Affairs now plans to change their policies with American families, first by possibly stopping work with problematic agencies, then by increasing the number of post adoption supervisory visits.

Right now, China's policy requires a family visit after six months of adoption. The Mount Juliet tragedy happened after less than four months.

“Naturally a situation that occurs like this makes them question their current practice,” said Bolles.

International adoption expert Julie Bolles recommends all countries require supervisory visits within the first month of adoption.

“I do think it puts us in the limelight, and I think as an adoption practitioner in the state it just makes me more aware and more diligent,” Bolles.

This latest adoption shake-up comes after an earlier incident in Shelbyville, Tenn., where nurse Torry Hansen sent her adopted son back to Russia alone. That prompted Russia to temporarily ban all U.S. adoptions.

“For two incidents to happen in the state on Tennessee this close together, that’s just been really unfortunate,” said Bolles.

China has not yet officially determined what the new adoption regulations will be. But adoption officials do now confirm there will be more regular and complete reporting, along with serious penalties for failure to follow their guidelines.

http://www.wsmv.com/news/24501796/detail.html

Pediatrician, husband face May trial date for daughter's death
Posted: Dec 07, 2010 4:37 PM CST



LEBANON, Tenn. – A Wilson County pediatrician and her husband charged in connection to the death of their adopted daughter will go on trial later next year.

Deborah Mark was arrested in July and charged with first degree murder and several counts of child abuse after her four-year-old daughter, Kairissa, was found unresponsive and later died.

The child's father and Mark's husband, 47-year-old Steven Mark, is also charged with child abuse in the case.

Both have entered not guilty pleas and are out of jail on bond.

Their trial is set to start May 31.

Mt. Juliet police have said the case of child abuse was one of the worst they've seen.

The couple adopted the young girl from China.

http://www.wkrn.com/story/13633048/pediatrician-husband-face-may-trial-date-for-daughters-death?clienttype=printable

mlm

looks like their trial will start next tuesday.

Hmm.. The abuse began shortly after she arrived at her new home, in which an older biological sibling lived. Has anyone considered the possibility of a jealous sibling? How many parents out there would lie about their involvement in a crime to protect their child? I have no proof of this, mind you, just examining all angles. We can't assume they're guilty without all of the evidence. Would have loved to sit on that jury...