Endangerment charges filed against mother

A mother accused of giving dangerous amounts of anti-seizure medicine to her 3-year-old son must face trial on felony endangerment charges, a judge ruled Thursday.

Holly Hency repeatedly last summer took her son, Austin, to Southeast Missouri Hospital and Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis. At various times, Austin had far too little medicine in his bloodstream, tests showed, while at other times he had near toxic levels.

Associate Circuit Judge Gary Kamp ruled there was enough evidence to charge Hency, 26, of 1918 Sherwood Drive, with first-degree child endangerment.

Kamp ruled after hearing testimony from doctors, a nurse, social service workers and child-care providers. During the preliminary hearing, defense attorney Patrick McMenamin sought to portray his client as having a mild mental disability that may have prevented her from understanding medical instructions.

Doctors diagnosed Austin with Landau Kleffner Syndrome when he was 2. The disorder is characterized by seizures, a loss of speech ability and unusual electrical activity in the brain. Austin was put on Depakote, an anti-seizure medication.

The ideal levels for the drug are between 50 and 100 micrograms per milliliter of blood, testified Thomas Geller, a neurologist at Cardinal Glennon. Last summer, Austin had readings ranging from 29 to 240 during visits to both Southeast Missouri Hospital and Cardinal Glennon, Geller said under questioning from assistant prosecutor Julie Hunter.

The higher level creates a danger of liver, kidney or pancreatic failure, Geller said.

The fluctuations, Geller said, made him believe "the child was being intoxicated willfully."

Austin was supposed to receive three pills a day. To produce the highest level seen, Geller said, he would have had to have taken eight or more pills in a 24-hour period.

Alisa Bridges, a Southeast pediatrician, called social service workers July 16. Hency had brought her son in on July 14 and toxicology tests showed a drug level of 240, Bridges testified. Medications were withheld for a day, and the level dropped to 99. But by July 16, the level was back up to 144.

McMenamin focused on the instructions doctors gave Hency for dispensing the medicine. Both Geller and Bridges insisted they had given clear, simple instructions on how to provide the drug.

"Would you have explained it differently if you had known she was mildly retarded?" McMenamin asked Geller.

Geller replied that he would have, but always felt as though Hency understood the instructions.

Austin was placed in foster care in July and since then has had stable levels of Depakote, social service worker Shelly Werner testified.