Russia’s children rights ombudsman on Tuesday lashed out at the U.S. authorities for hastily performing an autopsy into a January death of a 3-year-old Russian boy adopted by a West Texas couple, whose death has heightened opposition to American adoptions.
An autopsy report released to the Odessa American on Monday said that Max Alan Shatto had more than 30 bruises and other marks on his body as well as signs that he was routinely injured by accident. Pathologists could not find the specific injury that caused the internal bleeding leading to the boy’s death on January 21 which was ruled accidental. A grand jury declined to indict the parents, Alan and Laura Shatto, who also adopted his half-brother, Kristopher.
Russian authorities and state media have used Max Shatto’s death to fan opposition to American adoptions after Moscow adopted a law in December, barring Americans from adopting Russian children. Americans have adopted an estimated 60,000 children from Russia over the last two decades, at least 20 of whom have died.
Pavel Astakhov said on Tuesday that Russia wants Max Alan Shatto’s parents to face justice. Astakhov said in a statement that Russia “cannot accept this probe and its results as final and objective.”
He criticized the autopsy results as “biased and hasty” and complained that American authorities have not forwarded him the report. He said he learned about it from the media.
The boy, born Maxim Kuzmin, died Jan. 21 after Laura Shatto found him unresponsive outside their home in Gardendale, Texas.
A medical examiner’s investigator wrote in the report that Laura Shatto found abrasions, scrapes and bruises from head to toe on Max’s body. Alan Shatto told authorities that the boy had a tendency to hurt himself, hit his head against items in the home and had serious behavioral problems.
He said a doctor had prescribed the anti-psychotic drug Risperidone, but the couple stopped giving Max the drug after about four days after reading about the side effects and because it appeared the boy was having trouble swallowing. Laura Shatto reported that three days before his death, Max nearly choked on a cooked carrot. She said he tended to bang his head and claw himself, which she tried to prevent by cutting his nails short and having him wear gloves at night.
Bobby Bland, the Ector County district attorney, has said four pathologists reviewed an autopsy report and ruled Max’s death to be accidental.
“The injuries on the child were not consistent with abuse,” Bland said this month. “They were, instead, consistent with the previously diagnosed behavioral disorder.”
He said Max likely suffered the fatal injuries during 10 minutes when he was playing outside and Laura Shatto was in the bathroom.
Laura Shatto told authorities that on the day of his death, Max “began throwing a fit” when his parents tried to take him to the bathroom in the morning, according to the report. He eventually went back to bed and wasn’t woken up until 3 p.m., Laura Shatto told authorities.
He and his half brother watched TV for some time before their mother took them outside to play on the family’s swing set, the report says. Max was quiet and swaying from side to side when Laura Shatto went inside the house, she told authorities. When she returned, she found Max on the ground near the swings, unresponsive.
The boy was pronounced dead shortly afterward at an area hospital.
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