A federal judge in Brooklyn has issued a decision against pediatrician Debra Esernio-Jenssen, M.D., and her employer Long Island Jewish Hospital. Two parents and their child sued, claiming that Dr. Jenssen's misdiagnosis of the baby's arm fracture as child abuse led to the wrongful removal of the child from his parents by ACS; prosecution of the parents in Family Court for child abuse; and the entry of an indicated report against them in the State Central Register.

Judge Nina Gershon refused to dismiss plaintiffs' complaint, finding that these medical defendants became "state actors" once they held the baby after he was medically cleared, making them potentially liable for damages under the federal Civil Rights Act (Section 1983) and susceptible to claims of malicious prosecution, wrongful imprisonment, and medical malpractice. The case against Dr. Jenssen and the hospital will now proceed.