On January 3, 2025, the Henrico County Police announced they had arrested a 26-year-old nurse from Chesterfield County as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of physical abuse in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital.
The nurse, Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman, was taken into custody on charges of felony child abuse and malicious wounding in connection to an incident that occurred in November 2024, according to a Henrico County Police news release.
Her arrest came after the police department learned of the hospital’s internal investigation in late December 2024 into a series of mysterious fractures suffered by infants under its care and supervision. The police department is now re-examining cases reported in 2023 and 2024 and “reviewing dozens of videos from inside the NICU,” the department stated.
At Marks & Harrison, our experienced and dedicated medical malpractice attorneys are closely monitoring the investigation and reviewing the cases of families who may have been impacted by this alleged abuse and mistreatment.
Charges Reflect Past Allegations of Child Abuse at Hospital
The charges against the nurse are similar to alleged medical malpractice incidents involving four different infants who suffered injuries in the Henrico Doctors’ Hospital NICU in the summer of 2023, according to WTVR-TV (CBS 6).
One infant suffered a fractured tibia while in the hospital’s NICU, the media outlet reports. The infant’s mother, a former NICU nurse, spurred the investigation into the NICU by reporting her concerns to Child Protective Services, according to The Independent.
“They failed strictly on multiple levels with multiple different families, and they need to be held accountable as well because that shouldn’t have happened,” the infant’s father told WTVR-TV.
Newspaper Reports That At Least Seven Babies May Have Been Harmed
Strotman became a registered nurse in 2019. However, it is not clear when she began to work in the NICU at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, The Independent reports. She had previously been placed on paid administrative leave in 2023 following a hospital internal investigation, according to WTVR-TV.
The Washington Post reports that at least seven different infants may have suffered harm.
Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor told WTVR-TV that her office sees its ongoing investigation “from the standpoint of not just the individual culpability, but if there was asystems failure.”
“I think we would be remiss if we did not look at all aspects of how the system is working and how these families were impacted,” she told the TV station.
Get Help from an Experienced Virginia Medical Malpractice Attorney
For more than 100 years, the personal injury attorneys of Marks & Harrison have protected the rights of medical malpractice victims and their families in Henrico County and throughout Virginia. We offer our clients the legal experience and resources of more than 30 personal injury attorneys and more than 100 staff members, research attorneys, and in-house investigators. If you believe your family has suffered harm from the alleged abuse and mistreatment in the NICU at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, contact us today to discuss your case in a free consultation.
