A pediatrician from Delaware was charged by law enforcement authorities with allegedly waterboarding his daughter who is 11 years of age. The pediatrician is alleged to have performed waterboarding on his daughter on at least four occasions while the girl’s mother watched.
Dr. Melvin Morse and Pauline, his wife, are now facing a number of felony charges, which include reckless endangering. Morse is the co-author of a book that chronicles children’s near-death experiences. He was employed at a Milton, Delaware private practice. He was also charged with third-degree assault.
Police began their investigation on July 12 after they responded to a call on 911 from the doctor’s neighbor who reported that Morse allegedly grabbed his daughter around the ankle and dragged her across a driveway that contained gravel.
Court records say that Morse’s daughter told social workers and police detectives that her father used waterboarding to discipline here at least four times in a two-year period. She said her father held her face underneath running water, which caused her nostrils to be filled with water. She alleged that the incidents of waterboarding took place at the sink in the kitchen, at the bathroom sink and the bathtub faucet.
The young girl said she did not understand what she had done to be punished. The younger sister of the girl was interviewed as well, and told the social worker she had seen what happened to her older sister, but it never had happened to her because she was not old enough. Both children are now with Family Services.
The office of the Attorney General in Delaware filed a motion on Wednesday to suspend the medical license of Morse.
