Ten days after arriving in the U.S., 1.5 year old Deepa was taken to Kernan Hospital for leg assessments and testing began
By 07/22/1982, Deepa had a plaster cast mold made, and by 10/04/1982, little Deepa was walking independently on that prosthetic with a walker.
JH stay #1 overlaps this time line in 09/1982 to 10/1982
Legal Record Failures (Johns Hopkins 1982–83)
Misstated Legal Status – Hospital charts list the child as adopted on arrival, even though adoption was not finalized until April 8 1983 or May 27, 1983. The patient was still a ward under joint guardianship in India and Maryland, so full parental consent did not exist.
Invalid Consent Chain – Procedures were authorized by only one guardian with no court order or verification from either jurisdiction. Hopkins failed to confirm who held legal authority, violating CJP §5-303 and 45 CFR 46 (Subpart D).
Religious Alteration – Records show the child’s faith changed from Catholic to Lutheran without court approval. This breached the First Amendment, Maryland Articles 36–37, and India’s Guardians and Wards Act §26.
Missing and Altered Records – Operative notes, anesthesia logs, and IRB files are absent; duplicates show white-outs without signatures. Such gaps violate 42 CFR 482.24(b) medical-record standards.
Misclassified Procedures – Documents describe surgeries as experimental yet bill them as therapeutic, concealing research activity and bypassing IRB review required by 45 CFR 46.
Cross-Jurisdiction Breach – Guardianship orders in India and Maryland were both active, but Hopkins acted without dual-court authorization, defying the Guardians and Wards Act 1890 and Maryland Family Law Title 5.
The 1982–83 records show systemic legal and ethical failures—false custody status, defective consent, religious alteration, missing data, and cross-border violations—that collectively void any claim of lawful or ethical authorization.
Five months after arriving in the US, the toddler was ambulating well with a prosthetic leg.
The toddler was overdosed and discharged the same afternoon.
Five months after arriving US soil, still under joint guardianship, the toddler's religion was changed from Catholic to Lutheran, The same day Mylogram dye was injected into her spine. Toddler metabloize slower, this allowed the drugs to cross the blood brain barrier symptoms of Chemical Arachnoididtis noted in nurses' notes. while doctor's notes mostly ignore to continue experimentation.
About nine months after little Deepa's arrival in the U.S., and still under joint guardianship (not yet adopted), surgeons performed a 10-hour, risky unnecessary experimental nerve-graft operation.
They cut nerves from the sural nerve (back of the calf) and intercostal nerves (10th–12th ribs) and implanted them into the gluteal area in an attempt to repair spinal-root nerve avulsion. But once nerves are torn from the spinal cord, they cannot be reattached, meaning the surgery had no medical benefit for the toddler who was already ambulating well.
Complications included:
Three failed intubation attempts before the fourth finally worked with a smaller instrument, while the toddler was restrained. In remarks noted as hard to remove intubation tube after surgery.
A partially collapsed lung discovered after the 10-hour surgery.
Blood loss listed as 90 cc, though it should have been much higher. No transfusion records
the records seem to be picked through. dates dont match, surgery notes written 2 years after the surgery, multiple documents unsigned by doctors. anesthesia notes not datesk experimental language used throughout, etc.
After nerve testing the toddler was returned to Kernan hospital. Adoption finalized 04/08/1983 or 05/27/1983. A 5 year check up with Hopkins 01/1988 header illegible no name or signature of doctor. It does mention farther info on the child would be transmitted to Johns Hopkins after 1988 by female adopter.