Susan Hocevar

Susan Hocevar Story

I guess I need to share my story so that you can understand our urgency to get this matter resolved. My son was born in 1991 with complications of pneumonia,a partially collapsed lung and betastrep. While he was in intensive care, the doctors noticed he was having apnea spells so decided to test to confirm. The tests were positive, so he was placed on an apnea monitor. Later, he developed reflux and was treated accordingly.

Later that year we moved from California to a small town in Montana. In October of 91 our son started having seizures but a cause was not determined. There was a family history including myself of seizures but the pediatrician ignored this. He was placed on tegretol by the pediatrician without any consultation from a neurologist. The seizures continued and the apnea worsened. He was on tegretol and reglan and neither seemed to help. He had to be hospitalized for three of his seizures, but, still, nothing was ever done. My husband and I tried to get answers but only pissed off the doctor with our questioning.

That December,our son had a seizure. He aspirated fluid into his lungs which I was not able to get a clear airway. The ambulance personnel at the time were not trained to do anything other than CPR, so, for at least 15 minutes my son was unable to breath. The pediatrician treated him in the ER but did not catch the fluid amounts in his lungs the first time. He was placed in ICU and steadily grew worse. She asked to send him to Denver which we agreed to. Another x-ray showed the missed fluid and we were told that it was too late. She said that there was nothing else that she could do for him. We asked them to drain the fluid out of his lungs but she told us that he was too young and there was nothing more that they could do. The next day his body gave up and he passed away.

Nothing more was ever said until May of 92. Our four year old took my allergy medication. We rushed him to the ER and they pumped his stomach. He was in ICU for observation until the next day. The pediatrician came into his room and played the mind games. She told us that our son was possibly trying to commit suicide so that he could be with his brother. We were floored. We took him home and that evening the police and social worker showed up at our home with a search warrant and an order of protection to remove our son.They took him to a foster home and asked me to give a statement to help clear things up. The police said that if I gave them a statement then I would get my son back. They then took my husband into a separate room to show him literature on MSBP and to try and convince him that I had poisoned our son and suffocated our other son.

We fought the system for 2 years before they finally decided to charge me with numerous counts. To make a long story short, I have been through one trial and am waiting for the second as the first ended in a mistrial. I have had two other children since 92 and they live with us. I have never been arrested but my family has been through hell. We need all the help we can get at this point. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in prison for something that I didn't do!