Dr. Lamb's Credibility

23 Minutes: The Time It Took to Shatter Three Lives

At 11:52 PM on October 3, 2024, law enforcement received a call from Makayla Blanco reporting a skull fracture. She described it as "unexplained." That single allegation set off an investigation that would ultimately spiral into a web of misinformation and unnecessary suffering.

Initially, the investigation focused on an alleged assault. However, it was later revealed that the "injuries" were nothing more than a minor, two-day forehead bruise from a burping incident and faint marks caused by swaddle seams — all explained in a text message that Dr. Lamb, the Child Abuse Pediatrician (CAP), failed to review. By the time Lamb discovered on October 5, 2023, at 2:30 PM, that there was no skull fracture, her actions had already set a cascade of errors into motion. Did she immediately inform investigators? No. Instead, Lamb spent 23 hurried minutes drafting a report that she submitted at 2:53 PM, and later acknowledged was riddled with "typos" and "omissions," and filled with allegations of child abuse.

Shockingly, Lamb's investigation was far from thorough. She did not review medical records in detail, interview any of the four grandparents (two of whom held critical information), or ask law enforcement to do so. She admitted to spending "a couple of minutes" examining Winona, the child at the center of the case. Despite these glaring oversights, Lamb's report accused the family of abuse without key evidence or basic due diligence.

One of the most significant omissions? No one interviewed the grandmother, who texted with Annie about the two day forehead bruise's origin — a minor burping incident. These texts, which would have clarified everything, were ignored and unread. Lamb even falsely claimed in her report that the grandmother had reported a "busted lip," despite no visible external injury. The truth? It was a minor cut inside the Grandma's lip. Lamb never verified this claim, nor did she request to examine the garment Annie identified as the source of the swaddle lines. A simple comparison of the heavy rolled seams to the marks could have resolved this, but Lamb didn’t bother.

Furthermore, Lamb failed to investigate the details surrounding Winona’s birth. A review of the birth records or videos would have immediately revealed that it was far from routine. An delivery completed in less than a minute after the obstetrician’s arrival, after a floor doctor had to step in because it happened so quickly, might have provided an additional fourth reason after heavy coughing, crying or sneezing,  for the tiny broken blood vessel in the child’s eye. Instead, Lamb incorrectly reported that it was exclusively caused by blunt force trauma or compression — a claim she would later walk back in court.  The fact is - Dr. Lamb was just not interested in hearing any explanations. Her mind was made up when she got the initial call Wednesday morning and ordered CPS to require a safety plan. This was just one of many inaccuracies she later admitted.

Rather than ensuring accuracy, Lamb seemed eager to wield her CAP credentials to accuse the Thigpens of child abuse in just 23 minutes. As subsequent testimony from the hospital’s Risk Manager, Sandra Slaton, revealed, this rush to judgment may have been an attempt to protect the hospital from its own admitted errors. Lamb failed to inform law enforcement that the skull fracture diagnosis called into Law enforcement was a mistake — not that day she found out (Thursday), not the next day (Friday) , not even by Monday, October 9, 2023. It was the Thigpens themselves who informed law enforcement, forcing them to verify the truth with Lamb. This delay can only be described as negligence.

When asked about the outlandish theories included in the law enforcement report, Lamb dismissively testified that any confusion stemmed from a "misunderstanding" on the part of the detective — an excuse that only highlighted her lack of accountability. This was after she testified that did not even recall speaking to a Detective, and does not take notes of conversations. 

*CAP = Child Abuse Pediatrician. CAPs are one of 23 pediatric specialties. Interestingly, of all these specialties, CAPs have the highest pass rate for board certification, with only two individuals failing on their first attempt in the past seven years.

A grievance was filed about the errors in Dr. Lamb's report on 10/6/23. CPS Staff had relalted concerns and sent 4 emails to Lamb. 
A response from the Mary Bridge Risk Manager was sent to the family dated 

On the evening of October 3, 2024, at 9:11 PM, a skull fracture was diagnosed in Winona. Medical staff at Mary Bridge told the Thigpens that this injury could not have been caused by the burping incident they reported—an event they believed led to a minor bruise on their daughter's head. Despite the diagnosis, no medical action was taken by Mary Bridge to address the skull fracture. That same evening, a criminal investigation for assault and a child abuse investigation were initiated based just o the skull fracture. The Thigpens were threatened with potential jail time, and their daughter faced the possibility of being placed in foster care. By October 4, at 1:59 PM, one doctor—a compassionate and honest professional—told the Thigpens he did not believe a skull fracture existed. He shared his findings with Dr. Lamb, who disagreed. The only other injury noted by three Mary Bridge staff s a concern involved marks on Winona’s arm. These marks were described during discussions between the admitting doctor and Detective Wade. Detective Wade referred to the lines as "weird, long, and stringy," while Dr. Andrew Johnson described them as, "linear red streaks vertically on the left arm and a smaller mark on the left forearm. No yellow or purple bruising." The Thigpens explained that they believed these marks were caused by the garment Winona was sleeping in. Photos of the garment, taken by CPS on October 4 at 1:45 PM, showed thick piping or folded-over fabric that could reasonably leave pink or red linear marks on an infant’s sensitive skin. This was a new "warm" version of a garment they had purchased earlier and had only been in use since September 30. By the morning of October 2, it had been worn just twice. The garment was left in the bassinet when they went to the hospital. No records indicate that CPS, law enforcement, Dr. Lamb, or any Mary Bridge staff considered the unique design of this garment during their investigation. Instead, they vaguely referred to "a seam" without addressing the specific and unusual nature of the garment's construction. Dr. Lamb, who should have been familiar with such garments due to their growing popularity, did not involve a dermatologist or consult the family regarding the marks. Had the family been consulted, they could have shared a history of skin sensitivity in the family, as well as details about Winona’s sensitive skin, which they had been addressing since her first week of life with specially chosen baby products. In court, Dr. Lamb claimed the marks were unchanged from her examination "36 hours earlier." However, she had not been present 36 hours earlier, nor do her comments align with a phot in the hospital room on Tuesday, the 2nd day, which showed only a faint pink line. Her statement was inaccurate. Additionally, in court, Dr. Lamb admitted to overlooking three references in Winona’s medical file that documented her tendency for easy bruising. This situation highlights multiple oversights and missteps in how the Thigpens and their daughter were treated, with both medical and investigative teams failing to consider key evidence or consult relevant experts.

Here are photos of the garment but note that Winona had the warm version. 

Emall to Seattle Children's Hospital from Rylee McCauley after Dr. Lamb did not respond to multiple emails:

"Hi Becki,
Thank you for reaching out. We are requesting a second opinion due to extenuating circumstances. I
have included a email chain directly to Dr. Lamb and we have yet to receive a response. "

Yet there were errors in Rylee's emails and a complete lack of follow through to Dr. Lamb of obvious remaining
questions and NO ethical communication with family that this was going on. 

Here is the list of people email seeking a response from Dr. Lamb who was apparently too busy too even let CPS know if there was or was not a skull fracture (A social worker had called but her report really was THAT bad that even CPS could not make heads or tails of it).

10/16/23 -  3:47 PM - Rylee McCauley emails Lamb and cc's Fawn Cooper
No Response from Lamb.

10/18/23 3:54 pm  Rylee McCauley emails Lamb and cc's Fawn Cooper
No Response from Lamb.

10/23/23 8:59 AM Rylee McCauley emails Lamb, cc's Fawn Cooper AND also cc's Rylee's DCYF supervisors, Ly Dinh and Carly Boyd

No Response from Lamb.

10/23/23 11:44 AM Rylee McCauley emails Seattle Childrens Hospital citing extenuating circumstances  and they respond at 2:28 that they can not help as a 2nd CAP can not evaluate another CAPs works.  
"Hi Becki,
Thank you for reaching out. We are requesting a second opinion due to extenuating circumstances. I
have included a email chain directly to Dr. Lamb and we have yet to receive a response. "

10/24/23 1:17 PM Rylee McCauley emails Lamb, cc's Fawn Cooper AND also cc's Rylee's DCYF supervisors, Ly Dinh and Carly Boyd and ADDs DCYF Jasmine Hodges
10/24/23  - 3:02 PM, Lamb Finally responds! 
Lamb finally acknowledges there was no skull fracture but adds that she personally claims to have seen a bruise in her exam on 10/5/23 and adds a bruise to her 10/5/23 body diagram of Winona.  She leaves in the strange comment about mom saying the bruise was "mostly gone".  We can only assume she waited that long because she just did not know what to do and then finally decided that if she was going to admit in writing there was no skull fracture she would have to add the bruise. 
We are not disputing that there was a light two day bruise but Lamb gave no reason once there was no skull fracture to provide time to allow investigators to look at Grandmothers lip and interview her since everyone including Lamb verified that Lamb did not now what happened in the burping incident. 
By this time:
Everyone knew and were discussing on 10/5/23 how amazing it was that the bruise disappeared. When Lamb announced that there was no skull fracture during the 4 PM meeting the family was stunned that she was still alleging abuse. 

• ON 10/9 Both Rylee McCauley and Fawn Cooper were in a phone conversations with Thigpens in which Rylee stated about the bruise "it was gone by thursday" and then later "it was .. interesting, as how it just disappeared overnight Wednesday to Thursday" and alse several times appeared to use the fact that the bruise had disappeared so quickly by trying to find out if there had been any others that has disappeared so quickly asking "markings have never showed up and then just gone next day, disappeared the next day?"
• Law Enforcement spoke with Fawn on 10/4/23 the day before Thigpen's were released and reported that Fawn reported on 10/4 (the day BEFORE Lamb's examination of Winona) that the petechiae was no longer visible and the bruise on Winona's head was really faint.
  
• Fawn Cooper also documented 10/5 that she could barely see the bruise.
  The family has photos and video from 10/5/23 including before Lamb's examination documenting no visible bruise.
  Yet, Rylee McCauley, who had described the bruise to family in a 10/9/23 phone call as "disappeared" on Thursday just accepted Lamb's report without any further questions and did not let the family know that Lamb altered her report. We found out over a year later. 
• Negligence does not begin to describe Rylee McCauley and her supervisors handling of this matter.
  
  Additionally in response to Rylee's question about whether there was an issue with the slides that might have caused a false skull fracture diagnosis, Lamb says not that she knows of. Yet later in court she admits that as she calls it the slides were "less than optimal" Note: a family member took notes during the meeting when she announced there was not a skull fracture which Dr. Lamb attributed to the misalignment of slides.