IN - Couple charged with abandonment of adopted child after legally changing her age, Sept 2019 #2 *not guilty*

[MissA2]

Sorry all here is the link
Attorneys: How much did Michael Barnett, Kristine Barnett and Natalia Barnett get paid for interviews?

 

[Dawn Day]

So what will happen to Michael’s primary care doctor who wrote the medical form for the court ”

I think Natalia would have to file some kind of complaint with specific allegations. There appears to be a lot there that he could be censured for or civilly liable for. 1) Did he have any kind of court order or authorization to speak about her protected health information ? Could be a HIPPA violation. The letter is dated after NB was a legal adult , so the Barnetts could not have provided legal authority. It’s possible a court authorized it or compelled NB to authorize it. That’s a big unknown. 2) These opinions he offered seem to go far beyond the scope of his expertise (Barnetts are the “real” victims? That’s not a medical judgement. Etc etc). 3) He seems to vouch for other medical providers opinions (neuropsychologist; dentist). As her primary provider he is not an “expert” witness and I don’t think should have opined on the work of others. Did he even have documentation of the other’s opinions? How would he know about any of this personally?
I think he could be in a lot of trouble here.

 

[mickey2942]

It is interesting, I have seen medical doctors sign off on all sorts of things, that are definitely not within their area of expertise.

Not sure about the ethics of validation of this situation.

 

[Amonet]

I still don't understand why he asked that. Is he asking the state to tell him whether or not Natalia has been asked about film rights? I'm lost...

That's how I took it. I would think the point of that would be so that he could accuse N of lying in order to make money from the story, and they'd want to look at the offers to see if any are conditional on her winning the case.

The problem I see with that, is that it would make sense to make that accusation in a 'he said/she said' case. But in this case I anticipate it being about records and medical scans.

It does come across as an ironic request as it's MB who's really pushed the media frenzy into this case with all of his appearances, many of which were done with his lawyer at his side.

It's not as if N has bombarded the media for weeks or months with stories about the Barnetts...it's the other way around, and all N has done now is to offer her version of some events to defend herself.

 

[ioethe]

The only thing I can think of is that it is to attempt to discredit Natalia as a witness. Which is a double edged sword given how much media coverage he's had.

 

[gitana1]

I think Natalia would have to file some kind of complaint with specific allegations. There appears to be a lot there that he could be censured for or civilly liable for. 1) Did he have any kind of court order or authorization to speak about her protected health information ? Could be a HIPPA violation. The letter is dated after NB was a legal adult , so the Barnetts could not have provided legal authority. It’s possible a court authorized it or compelled NB to authorize it. That’s a big unknown. 2) These opinions he offered seem to go far beyond the scope of his expertise (Barnetts are the “real” victims? That’s not a medical judgement. Etc etc). 3) He seems to vouch for other medical providers opinions (neuropsychologist; dentist). As her primary provider he is not an “expert” witness and I don’t think should have opined on the work of others. Did he even have documentation of the other’s opinions? How would he know about any of this personally?
I think he could be in a lot of trouble here.

Oh my gosh you’re right! I never thought of the HIPAA issue with that letter!

But the only way the court could authorize it would be medical records via a subpoena, which this isn’t, or if all parties agreed.

So indeed he could be in big trouble because she was already an adult legally. The parents couldn’t waive her HIPAA protections.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Here’s another link

Indiana prosecutors ask if couple was paid for interviews

 

[Meloni88]

Oh my gosh you’re right! I never thought of the HIPAA issue with that letter!

But the only way the court could authorize it would be medical records via a subpoena, which this isn’t, or if all parties agreed.

So indeed he could be in big trouble because she was already an adult legally. The parents couldn’t waive her HIPAA protections.

Is it a HIPAA violation if it's all made up lol

 

[gitana1]

Is it a HIPAA violation if it's all made up lol

Ha ha! That’s a good point! But he discusses her dwarfism (even though wrong) and other details of her mental hospital stays (IIRC) and discusses her physical development. He says he was her doctor. He can’t do any of that. And I’m so stupid I never thought about it.

 

[jjenny]

Sorry all here is the link
Attorneys: How much did Michael Barnett, Kristine Barnett and Natalia Barnett get paid for interviews?

Why doesn't MB's lawyer ask his own client?

 

[jjenny]

If I recall correctly, Natalia comes from the Russian speaking part of Ukraine anyway.

If she came here as a young child, she could have forgotten easily her native language, whether it is Russian or Ukrainian. Children learn new language easily but they also easily forget their native language if not practiced at home.

 

[jjenny]

Same, I have big doubts. Although they said that when this person talked to her Natalia got very upset which I took it to mean that hearing the language brought back unpleasant memories for her. They are such insensitive a-holes that possibility would never occur to them. But I kind of feel like the state is trolling them a bit there by requesting the person's name. I mean, they know she is from Ukraine. That will be stringently documented and verified that she was brought over in 2008. So it's not like they are taking this contention that she isn't really Ukrainian seriously.

Yes, of course prosecution knows. The first family that adopted her actually visited her in Ukraine from what has been reported. I presume they also had to fly over there to bring her to US.

 

[ioethe]

Natalia Barnett's guardians added to gag order in neglect case

Antwon and Cynthia Mans added to the gag order by the prosecution.

 

[Meloni88]

Some things we've discussed in the private chat I think we could add here...

When this story was breaking 2 months ago Kristine was protesting her innocence on Facebook and talked about "others affected by the adoption scam", "financially harmed" and "know the truth" about Natalia. In that comment she tagged none other then Nicole DePaul. Apparently expecting that Nicole would come to Kristine's defense! Nicole and her husband then went on Inside Edition to show all the medical documents and photographic evidence they have showing that Natalia was a small child in 2009 and that Kristine and Michael are liars. Their daughter made her own YT video stating the same. The other lady she tagged expecting to back her up ("R") also has diastrophic dyslplasia and knew Natalia 10 years ago. She has also stated that the Barnetts are lying and that she and her husband have proof that Natalia is a child.

The mind just boggles as to what gave Kristine the idea that these people believed Natalia was an adult con artist. We think these are the people Kristine and Dr McLaren were referring to as the other "victims" of Natalia... but they actually want to testify against the Barnetts, not Natalia.

 

[Meloni88]

Another crazy thing is the speech that Kristine gave earlier in the year at some kind of gifted child convention. About 13 minutes in she claims that her nephew was born prematurely, in a coma, hypoxic and at death's door (her sister was also in a coma and unaware that she had had the baby). They were waiting for a helicopter to life flight him to another hospital to save his life "there were no tubes, no doctors". A nurse "looked her in the eye" and told her "strange things happen when I leave the room." She says this nurse left the room and Kristine picked up her dying nephew and cradled him annnnnd he was cured and didn't need to be life flighted after that. (Dawn found this gem btw)

 

[Meloni88]

Interesting comment from one of Nicole's friends. She says that Kristine called her to find out if Natalia and this woman's son had the same type of dwarfism (they don't). She says she'd asked her about Natalia after they moved to Canada and Kristine just told her she was "doing well".

 

[Dawn Day]

Natalia Barnett's guardians added to gag order in neglect case

Antwon and Cynthia Mans added to the gag order by the prosecution.

Why aren’t the Barnett’s sons included? Or maybe that’s coming, too?

 

[gitana1]

Some things we've discussed in the private chat I think we could add here...

When this story was breaking 2 months ago Kristine was protesting her innocence on Facebook and talked about "others affected by the adoption scam", "financially harmed" and "know the truth" about Natalia. In that comment she tagged none other then Nicole DePaul. Apparently expecting that Nicole would come to Kristine's defense! Nicole and her husband then went on Inside Edition to show all the medical documents and photographic evidence they have showing that Natalia was a small child in 2009 and that Kristine and Michael are liars. Their daughter made her own YT video stating the same. The other lady she tagged expecting to back her up ("R") also has diastrophic dyslplasia and knew Natalia 10 years ago. She has also stated that the Barnetts are lying and that she and her husband have proof that Natalia is a child.

The mind just boggles as to what gave Kristine the idea that these people believed Natalia was an adult con artist. We think these are the people Kristine and Dr McLaren were referring to as the other "victims" of Natalia... but they actually want to testify against the Barnetts, not Natalia.

I can’t find the witness list. Are the DuPaul’s on it?

 

[Meloni88]

I can’t find the witness list. Are the DuPaul’s on it?

No, not in September. I'm sure they would be on an updated list though.
The list on the September affidavit (aside from the Mans and Natalia herself) was just doctors, hospital reps, police officers and education professionals.

 

[ioethe]

If they have the DePaul’s paperwork will they need them as witnesses?