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Thread: Renee Bach Sued for abusing and leading children to their deaths during her time as a missionary in Uganda

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    Renee Bach Sued for abusing and leading children to their deaths during her time as a missionary in Uganda



    https://wset.com/news/local/bedford-...jNeeqKjSCyS5Wk

    BEDFORD, Va. (WSET) -- A woman with ties to our area who runs a ministry in Uganda is being sued for allegedly operating an illegal medical facility in the country.

    Renee Bach grew up in Bedford County and heads up Serving His Children, a non-profit she said that was created for inpatient and outpatient programs that was partnered with the government in Uganda.

    In an interview last year, Bach said her organization had treated 3,400 children suffering from severe malnutrition since 2011.

    Now, a lawsuit is alleging the mothers of two children served by her ministry led to their children's deaths and the deaths of hundreds of children in Uganda.

    She was supposed to be in court in March, but she reportedly did not show up.

    Women?s Probono Initiative, which filed the lawsuit with the two mothers, said they were led to believe Bach was a 'medical doctor' and that her home was a 'medical facility' and she was seen wearing a white coat and stethoscope.

    She was also seen giving medication to children, according to the lawsuit.

    The mothers allege that when their children died they were told that Bach didn't have medical training and her facility had been closed and ordered to stop treating children.

    They believe that her actions led to the death of hundreds of children.

    The lawsuit declares that Bach and her organization violated the children's right to proper medical care, "the right to life, the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race and social economic standing and the right to dignity, freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment."

    A group called No White Saviors (NWS) is using Twitter to try and bring attention the case.

    They've asked for help finding a Virginia licensed attorney to consult on pursuing legal action against Bach and Serving His Children.

    The organization claims that many of Bach's 'victims' are still alive are left permanently scarred including disfiguration and mental illness.

    No one answered the door at a home for the address listed for Bach in Bedford.

    She also has not responded to emails or phone calls for a request to comment

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    https://www.iflscience.com/health-an...cal-facility-/

    A US missionary with no medical training is being sued by mothers in Uganda who claim her "medical facility" was responsible for the death of their children.

    Shortly after leaving Virginia in 2007, Renee Bach founded a private NGO and healthcare facility – Serving His Children (SHC) – in the Jinja town of eastern Uganda to help treat children suffering from severe malnutrition. Two mothers, alongside the Women's Probono Initiative (WPI) in Kampala, have now filed a lawsuit against Bach and her NGO, alleging she was responsible for the death of their children at the "medical facility".

    After their children died, they learned that the District Health Officer had allegedly ordered the facility to be closed in 2015. The mothers and the WPI argue they were misled to believe Bach was a “medical doctor”, noting she often wore a white coat and a stethoscope, and was seen administering medications to children despite having no medical license. According to AllAfrica, the complainants also allege that over 100 children passed away while receiving treatment at her NGO.

    “There are procedural and regulatory mechanisms that ought to be followed when establishing a medical facility in Uganda. Even so the law provides for licensing agencies and protocols for who should practice medicine in Uganda,” Beatrice Kayaga, an officer at the WPI, said in a press release. “It is unacceptable, narcissistic behavior, for anyone, black or white, rich or poor, missionary or angel to pass off as a ‘medical practitioner’ when they are not. By doing so, they mislead unsuspecting vulnerable members of the public."

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    It wasn’t only that the organization lacked medical expertise and institutional frameworks to look after malnourished children, it was also that it’s founder, Renee Bach wasn’t qualified medical personnel. #NBSInvestigates

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    "The actions of Renee & SHC have caused so much pain, injustice, a lack of transparency and accountability by the organization Serving His Children. The Judiciary has a role to play in ending this,” she added.

    Since-deleted blog posts attributed to Bach, available to read on Internet Archive, suggest she may have been carrying out medical treatment on young children. In one post about a 9-month-old baby with malnutrition, she writes: “I hooked the baby up to oxygen and got to work... As I took her temperature, started an IV, checked her blood sugar, tested for malaria, and looked at her HB count, they began to tell me her story… A story that I feel I have heard many times before. But even though I’ve heard countless similar stories, my heart still breaks every time!”

    Nevertheless, SHC denies that Bach ever presented herself as a medical professional or caused the death of any child. In response to an article from 2018, they claim all the treatment was carried out under the supervision of licensed medical professionals. They also state they cared for over 3,500 children, with “a recovery rate of over 96 percent.”

    In that 2018 response article, they also said: "It should be noted that Ms. Bach was often asked to come alongside medical staff within health facilities outside of SHCI, both private and government operated, in similar circumstances and while she agreed to help, she never represented herself as a medical professional and was always acting under the supervision of licensed medical personnel."

    "When the center was busy, the nurses appreciated the extra hands and Ms. Bach was happy to help."

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    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/new...ectid=12242085

    A US missionary has been accused of lying about being a medical professional while treating children in Uganda after more than 100 babies allegedly died at her facility.

    After leaving Virginia in 2007, Renee Bach set up a private non-governmental organisation called Serving His Children (SHC) in eastern Uganda.

    She is accused of leading parents of children in her care to believe she was a doctor despite having no medical training.

    Bach allegedly took children suffering from malnutrition from local hospitals and "treated" them at her facility.

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    Claims have since emerged more than 100 children died while receiving treatment at her non-government organisation, according to AllAfrica.

    Two mothers have launched legal action against Bach after their children died at her facility, claiming the US missionary was responsible for their deaths.

    Gimbo Zubeda and Kakai Rose, with the help of the Women's Probono Initiative, are suing Bach for actions they believe led to the death of their children.

    Bach's alleged deception is outlined in a statement released by the Initiative in January of this year.

    "The mothers allege that they were led to believe that Renee Bach was a 'medical doctor' and that her home was a 'medical facility'," the statement reads.

    Bach was often seen around the facility wearing a white coat and stethoscope and often administered medication to children.

    However, when their children died, the women were informed Bach had no medical training and the District Health Officer had closed Bach's facility in 2015 and ordered her to not offer anymore treatment to children.

    But even after being ordered to shut down, Bach still continued to treat severely ill children who needed proper medical attention.

    "The Women's Probono Initiative and the two women are thus alleging that the actions of Renee and SHC led to the death of hundreds of children amounting to violations of human rights," the statement reads.

    The complainants are asking the Jinja High Court in Uganda to shut down SHC.

    Now-deleted blog posts, which were attributed to Bach, describe instances of where she claims to have rendered medical treatment to children.

    In one post she described how she treated a 9-month-old baby who had been brought to the facility barely alive.

    "I hooked the baby up to oxygen and got to work … I took her temperature, started an IV, checked her blood sugar, tested for malaria and looked at her HB count," the post read.

    Despite this, the SHC has denied Bach ever claimed to be a medical professional or caused the death of a child.

    In response to a 2018 article accusing Bach of "playing doctor", the SCH said: "At no time has our founder, Renee Bach, presented herself as a medical professional, experimented on or caused the death of any child."

    The organisation also stated Bach only provided assistance to medical staff when asked and was only in an administrative role with SCH.

    Since the allegations against Bach have been brought forward, a group called No White Saviors have taken to social media to warn others about the US missionary and bring awareness to the case.

    The group revealed the physical and mental injuries some of the children allegedly treated by Bach had been left with.

    One post showed a photo of a girl with visible scars, claiming she was the child Bach wrote about treating in a blog post.

    "Some of #ReneeBach's victims are still alive. This is Patricia, left permanently disfigured after a botched blood transfusion performed by Renee. She didn't crossmatch the blood, because she's not a medical professional, child had horrible reaction & now lives with these scars," No White Saviors wrote online.

    The group also shared a photo of a young boy who appeared to be disfigured.

    "This is Maasai. He has been left with irreversible physical and mental disabilities because of #ReneeBach's botched medical experimentation. Former staff and the family of Maasai report that Renee Bach was the one to treating their child at @servinghis," the post read.

    Bach's current whereabouts are unknown, with reports showing she failed to attend her court date in Jinja in March 2019.

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    https://medium.com/@nowhitesaviors/w...l-edb278b938bc

    When White Saviorism Turns Deadly: American missionary played doctor, children died, when will there be justice?
    Go to the profile of No White Saviors
    No White Saviors
    Sep 29, 2018

    Pictured is Renee Bach, an American missionary who moved to Jinja, Uganda at age 18. She is not a Doctor, not even a Nurse. With no formal medical training, Ms. Bach started experimenting with medical procedures she’d learn from Youtube.
    When I first visited Uganda in 2010, I was 20-years-old and chalk-full of the white savior complex. I volunteered for 3 months at an orphanage in Jinja, Uganda and I really believed I was making a difference. I fundraised for my trip, raising thousands of dollars from family and friends to fill a role that was absolutely not necessary, even though I believed it was. The Ugandan women who cared for the children in the home were far better equipped to love and care for these children. They knew the culture, language and were a constant in the lives of the at-risk kids who came into care.

    One of the hardest but most important lessons I have learned over the last 8 years has been that good intentions are not good enough. No matter how well meaning I have been or continue to be, the impact of my actions on the community I claim to be helping far outweighs my goodwill.

    While in Jinja my white savior complex was only reinforced as I met other young, white American women who had moved to this same town. I watched in awe of young women who moved halfway across the world at age 18 with no experience, no college education. They were starting organizations and adopting children. How amazing? If they could do it, why not me? So I did. With only a bachelors degree and little-to-no experience, I co-founded an NGO in the same town as Renee Bach and her project - “Serving His Children.”

    Initially, I admired Renee for her sacrifice and tireless commitment to helping children battling malnutrition. It was not until January 2014 that my perspective really started to change. There was a child referred to our center who had previously been at Serving His Children (SHC). He and his Grandmother stayed with us for several months while he received much needed medical care. The day after we had received some good news about his heart condition, he died of a sudden heart attack. His 3-year-old body had been through a great deal of stress and it had finally given out.

    We found out that this little boy had suffered a severe case of malnutrition and was brought to Renee’s NGO in Masese. They got him fat and healthy and then sent him home without so much as any consideration for the root cause of his malnutrition. There was no follow up, so he fell sick again, so sick that his body was not able to come back from it this time.

    Renee and her Social Worker at the time came out to our office to discuss this case, as I made it clear I held her partially responsible for this child’s death. I explained that had she training or experience in child welfare, she’d know how critical it is to follow up on cases like this. I was frustrated at that point but all I was asking was that Renee and her team do better follow up moving forward to prevent kids from falling through the cracks and ending up right back where they started.

    It was soon after this that my concern moved to terror, as I learned that the poor follow-up procedures were far from the most dangerous thing happening at Serving His Children. It was reported by multiple parties that Renee was actively practicing medicine on children that came to the center. She had medical professionals on staff but she herself, with no medical training, chose to actively treat and respond to serious medical needs of children in crisis.

    Below is a screen capture of a blogpost Ms. Bach published on the Serving His Children website. This post, among others, have since been taken down. Nothing published on the internet really ever goes away. We were able to recover a number of troubling posts just like this, that were taken down after evidence was submitted to the Jinja Police and Ministry of Health in Uganda in 2015.


    Here you can find a detailed account of just some of the direct, self-taught medical care this American missionary engaged in. She writes, “I hooked the baby up to oxygen and got to work….As I took her temperature, started an IV, checked her blood sugar, tested for malaria, and looked at her HB count… I was attempting to diagnose the many problems that could potentially be at hand…After doing a search for blood around Jinja town, we found her type and it was a match! We started the transfusion…”

    According to previous volunteers and former staff, the above account is nothing compared to the high level medical practices Ms. Bach would engage in at Serving His Children. Taking children from actual hospitals and medical centers, Renee and her team would bring children back to the center in Masese. Renee herself would openly talk about how much she enjoyed “hands on medical care”. An unknown number of children have died in the care of this center. Proper protocol was not followed after the children died, so it could be quite challenging to find the total number of lives lost due to such serious negligence.


    Pictured is Renee Bach standing in a room at Serving His Children in Masese. The room is covered, wall to wall, with photos of malnourished children.
    Many of us who have tried to hold Renee and SHC accountable have been lambasted, yelled at and referred to as “the enemy” by supporters of Renee. The “home church” that Ms. Bach attended in Jinja, as well as a significant portion of the missionary community there, supported and defended her. It seems as though missionaries may have a selective tendency when it comes to following the laws of the land. Could you imagine if a young, Ugandan woman was experimenting with medical procedures on their children and they ended up dying? These same missionaries who have stood by and justified these behaviors would not sleep until they got justice if this had happened to their children.

    What’s worse? Renee’s Board of Directors in America consisted of close friends and family members. When volunteers and employees would write to the board about these concerns, rather than holding Renee accountable, the board would find a way to get rid of anyone who was seen as “critical” of Renee’s calling from God.

    After SHC was shut down in 2015, many of us hoped that there would finally be justice for all of the families who had children die at the center under Renee’s care. We were wrong. Up until now, there has not been a full investigation into the evidence provided to authorities here in Uganda. While we are holding Ms. Bach and SHC accountable first, we also must ask why the authorities who should have held her accountable failed to do so.

    The purpose of this article is for advocacy and awareness purposes only. Sometimes, when justice is not had by way of a country’s justice system, the last resort is seeking public attention. When you share this and help us spread the word, there will be more voices demanding accountability for these families who lost their children.

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    https://allafrica.com/stories/201906140716.html

    The two women say that they were led to believe that Renee Bach was a medical doctor and that her home was a medical facility as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care. They say they learned that Bach had no training at all in medicine after their children died. They also found out that in 2015, the District Health Officer had closed her facility and ordered her to not offer any treatment to any children.

    So how then did an American missionary without any medical qualification end up allegedly performing medical procedures and giving treatment to children even after her facility was ordered to shut down?

    'There are procedural and regulatory mechanisms that ought to be followed when establishing a medical facility in Uganda. Even so the law provides for licensing agencies and protocols for who should practice medicine in Uganda. It is unacceptable, narcissistic behavior, for any one, black or white, rich or poor, missionary or angel to pass off as a 'medical practitioner' when they are not," says Beatrice Kayaga, an officer at the Women’s Probono Initiative.

    The complainants are asking the Jinja High Court in Uganda to shut down Bach's organisation. They say the actions of Bach led to the death of over 100 children, "violating their right to access adequate treatment, the right to health of the children, the right to life, the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race and social economic standing and the right to dignity, freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment".

    The Serving His Children NGO responded to an article written by Sarabeth Caplin in 2018 accusing Christian Missionary for "Playing Doctor" With No Training.

    "At no time has our founder, Renee Bach, presented herself as a medical professional, experimented on or caused the death of any child. Having been trained by medical professionals to start IVs, Ms. Bach has in the past provided assistance in such procedures when requested and currently serves in an administrative capacity and participates in fundraising for the organization" - Lauri Bach, the U.S. Director for Serving His Children.

    A group called No White Saviors (NWS) has taken to social media to raise awareness of this case, and has asked for help in bringing charges against Bach in the U.S.. The group posted pictures of two children with visible scars they say were caused by Renee Bach's botched care.

    ‏@nowhitesaviors "Some of #ReneeBach 's victims are still alive. This is Patricia, left permanently disfigured after a botched blood transfusion performed by Renee. She didn't cross-match the blood, because she's not a medical professional, child had horrible reaction & now lives with these scars."

    ‏@nowhitesaviors "This is Maasai. He has been left with irreversible physical and mental disabilities because of #ReneeBach 's botched medical experimentation. Former staff and the family of Maasai report that Renee Bach was the one to treating their child at @servinghis"

    ‏@nowhitesaviors "Renee Bach is absolutely hiding in the U.S. She did not even show up for court in Jinja in March.

    @nowhitesaviors "It was well over 100. Legally we name that number because there is an open human rights case that our team of lawyers have filed here in Uganda. We are very weary of their ability to pay off authorities here and are ready to pursue charges in U.S. against her and her 501c3."

    The response on social media has been cutting:

    @Emiko Appledad_ "This is extreme white privilege and she should be held accountable for her actions legally. Black babies are not your medical testing subjects and I don't care what God you're serving while doing so."

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    Damn this is crazier than even the William Husel Death case in Ohio.

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    https://www.ugchristiannews.com/ugan...eds-of-deaths/

    This event is more sinister than you think

    A US missionary who served in Uganda has been accused in a lawsuit of lying about being a medical professional while treating children in the southern part of the country after more than 100 babies allegedly died at her facility.

    The Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI), Ms. Gimbo Brenda and Ms. Kakai Annet have sued Ms. Renee Bach and Serving His Children (SHC) a non profit in Masese 1 – Jinja District for actions they allege led to the death of their babies while in the care of Ms. Renee Bach the Director of SHC.

    In their case documents, the mothers allege that they were led to believe that Ms. Renee Bach was a ‘medical doctor’ and that her home was a ‘medical facility’ as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care.

    The mothers allege that they were led to believe that Ms. Renee Bach was a ‘medical doctor’ and that her home was a ‘medical facility’ as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care.

    When their children died however, they were told that Ms. Renee has no training at all in medicine and that in 2015, the District Health Officer had closed her facility and ordered her to not offer any treatment to any child.

    The Women’s Probono Initiative and the two women are thus alleging that the actions of Renee and SHC led to the death of hundreds of children amounting to violations of human rights including violation of children’s right to access adequate treatment, the right to health of the children, the right to life, the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race and social economic standing and the right to dignity, freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.

    The complainants are demanding that SHC be closed and ceases to operate in Uganda forth with and that general damages be awarded to the aggrieved families complaining herein.

    ‘There are procedural and regulatory mechanisms that ought to be followed when establishing a medical facility in Uganda. Even so the law provides for licensing agencies and protocols for who should practice medicine in Uganda. It is unacceptable, narcissistic behaviour, for any one, black or white, rich or poor, missionary or angel to pass off as a ‘medical practitioner’ when they are not. By doing so, they mislead unsuspecting vulnerable members of the public. The actions of Renee & SHC have caused so much pain, injustice, a lack of transparency and accountability by the organization Serving His Children. The Judiciary has a role to play in ending this.” – Said Ms. Beatrice Kayaga – an officer at the Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI).

    “My son – Elijah Benjamin would be two (2) years old today had he been alive. I delivered him at Jinja Hospital on 21st January, 2017. I feel his life was snatched from my arms by the actions of Ms. Renee Bach. I hope the court can give me Justice” – Ms. Kakai Rose painfully retorts.

    Lawsuit Against Renee Bach by on Scribd




    According to sources, Bach’s organization reportedly revealed that her organization has treated some 3,400 children suffering from severe malnutrition since 2011.

    Speaking to media in USA, a volunteer who claims to have worked alongside Bach said they challenged her over the death of at least one child before realizing the scope of her organization’s damage.

    These accusations were published in September 2018 on the website Medium.

    “Initially, I admired Renee for her sacrifice and tireless commitment to helping children battling malnutrition. It was not until January 2014 that my perspective really started to change,” the volunteer wrote.

    “It was reported by multiple parties that Renee was actively practicing medicine on children that came to the center. She had medical professionals on staff but she herself, with no medical training, chose to actively treat and respond to serious medical needs of children in crisis,” the volunteer said.

    “According to previous volunteers and former staff … Renee herself would openly talk about how much she enjoyed ‘hands on medical care.’ An unknown number of children have died in the care of this center. Proper protocol was not followed after the children died, so it could be quite challenging to find the total number of lives lost due to such serious negligence,” the volunteer added.

    An ABC 13 News report noted that Bach was supposed to be in court in March to respond to the charges against her but she never appeared.



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    https://allafrica.com/stories/201901230133.html

    By Anthony Wesaka & Betty Ndagire
    Kampala — A lady, who has been running a local non-governmental organisation and whose alleged activities involved treating malnourished children with some dying in the process, has been sued for her alleged actions on grounds that she was not a qualified medical doctor.

    Ms Renee Bach, a foreign national, was sued alongside her organisation, Serving His Children (SHC) before Jinja High Court on Monday.

    The petition was filed by two women from Masese in Jinja District; Ms Gimbo Zubeda and Ms Kakai Rose, alongside a Civil Society Organisation; Women's Probono Initiative.

    The aggrieved women claim to have lost their babies at the hands of Ms Renee whom they accuse of having postured to be treating them, yet she did not have any medical background.



    What the mothers say

    The mothers in their court documents, state that they were led to believe that Ms Renee was a medical doctor and that her home was a medical facility as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care.

    This prompted them to take their children there but ended up dying upon bringing administered medication by Ms Renee.

    Ms Gimbo states that in 2013, her child was malnourished and needed to be fed on nutritious foods which she could not afford.

    She adds that in the process, some woman, who she later learnt was from SHC, came and asked her to take her child to their facility where she could be helped but the child was brought back dead after three days.

    The petitioners through their lawyers of Dalumba Advocates, want an order ceasing the operations of Ms Renee and her NGO with immediate effect.

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    https://www.dropbox.com/s/4tb8zn95p7...aplin.pdf?dl=0

    Here is the Defense making their case to support Renee Bach.

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    Here is a PR shot of Bach.

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    https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/...ng-their-sons/

    We first wrote about Renee Bach, a woman serving as a missionary in Uganda, back in November when we heard she was literally playing doctor with the children in her care despite having no medical degree. She allegedly took kids from actual hospitals to “treat” them at the headquarters for her ministry, Serving His Children. To no one’s surprise, several of those kids died.

    A group called No White Saviors was raising awareness of her actions. They also pointed out that her group’s board of directors included “close friends and family members.” In other words, there was little, if any, oversight.


    After our post was published, the U.S. director of Serving His Children, Lauri Bach, issued a response essentially confirming many of our points. But she added that Renee Bach never “presented herself as a medical professional, experimented on or caused the death of any child.” She also attributed those deaths to “severe acute malnutrition.”

    Since that time, the allegations against Bach have only become more serious.

    According to the Christian Post, she is now being charged with the unlawful deaths of children who sought care from her in a Ugandan court. The lawsuit was initiated by a group called Women’s Probono Initiative and two individual plaintiffs who blame Bach for the death of their kids.

    The lawsuit was filed in January by Women’s Probono Initiative on behalf of two mothers, Gimbo Brenda and Kakai Annet, whose children died after receiving treatment at the ministry Bach founded called Serving His Children. The case is just now receiving international attention due to activism.


    “In their case documents, the mothers allege that they were led to believe that Ms. Renee Bach was a ‘medical doctor’ and that her home was a ‘medical facility’ as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care. When their children died however, they were told that Ms. Renee has no training at all in medicine and that in 2015, the District Health Officer had closed her facility and ordered her to not offer any treatment to any child”…
    Back in November, one of the more concerning stories involving Bach was about a malnourished three-year-old boy whom she sent home after giving him food. She never followed up about the root cause of his malnutrition, and the short term solution didn’t lead to long-term success. He soon died of a heart failure.

    The mothers suing her now have been through similar situations. One of them said of her son, “I feel his life was snatched from my arms by the actions of Ms. Renee Bach.” The case has not been decided yet. WSET-TV says Bach was scheduled to appear in a Ugandan court in March… but never showed up.

    If you care about the medical well-being of children in countries with little to no access to decent health care, consider making a donation to Doctors Without Borders, whose employees are better equipped to handle these situations.

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    https://heavy.com/news/2019/06/renee-bach/

    Christian missionary is being sued in Ugandan court after two mothers accused her of pretending to be a doctor and accidentally killing their children. Renee Bach, 35, is the founder of Serving His Children (SHC), a nonprofit organization created to combat malnutrition in Uganda. The lawsuit alleges Bach killed hundreds of children by attempting to treat them without any medical training.

    “I can’t rule out the fact that children died like they do die in any health facility. But still, it’s not true to say that I killed them,” Bach said in a comment read by Al Jazeera.

    The lawsuit, brought about by two mothers whose children died while in the care of SHC, says that families were led to believe Bach was a medical doctor and that her house was a medical facility. The Women’s Probono Initiative, an organization that is representing the two mothers, issued a press release claiming Bach typically wore a white lab coat and stethoscope and was often seen providing medicine and medical treatment to children.

    “It is unacceptable, narcissistic behaviour, for anyone, black or white, rich or poor, missionary or angel to pass off as a ‘medical practitioner’ when they are not,” the Women’s Probono Initiative statement read.

    Here’s what you need to know about Renee Back and the Ugandan lawsuit.
    1. Bach Started the Charity Serving His Children After Graduating High School


    A Bedford, Virginia native, Bach first traveled to Uganda when she was 18 and claimed she “fell in love” with Africa. Bach decided soon after to start Serving His Children and set the organization up in the village of Masese, outside of Jinja, Uganda’s second largest city. Bach told her hometown paper, the Smith Mountain Eagle, that founding the charity was “God’s call for her life.”

    In 2014, the organization had 24 paid staff and was caring for 100-150 children annually. The center was reported to have a small medical clinic and an inpatient program equipped to house 16 children at a time. Bach said the average stay for a severely malnourished child is four to six weeks. “Our main goal is, of course, to share the love of Christ, in word and deed,” she said.

    According to the nonprofit reporting website Guidestar, SHC was incorporated in 2009 and Bach serves as its director. It states that the charity has three main goals: to provide medical treatment, nutrition education and help community leaders and local hospitals utilize local resources for food. In 2017 the News & Advance reported that Bach’s mother was on the organization’s board of directors and that her sister handled the SHC’s online presence.

    SHC has Guidestar’s 2018 “Seal of Transparency” on its website, indicating that the organization is open about its work and finances. In 2014, the Smith Mountain Eagle reported that charity’s offices were based out of the Radford Baptist Church, the church her family attends in Virginia.

    The paper noted that Bach is the second oldest of five children. She graduated from high school in 2007 and traveled to Uganda soon after. Bach has adopted a Ugandan daughter, Selah Grace.
    2. The Lawsuit Claims SHC Was Ordered to Shut down in 2015

    The lawsuit against Bach and SHC was brought forward by Gibo Zubeda and Kaki Rose, two mothers who claim their children died after they brought them to SHC for help. The women have stated that Bach misled them by acting like a doctor. The lawsuit also states that SHC has disregarded a 2015 order imposed by the District Health Officer to close down and not provide treatment to any other children. The women are seeking damages for themselves as well as other families whose children died while in the care of SHC.

    “My son – Elijah Benjamin would be two (2) years old today had he been alive. I delivered him at Jinja Hospital on 21st January 2017. I feel his life was snatched from my arms by the actions of Ms. Renee Bach. I hope the court can give me Justice,” Rose painfully said in a January 29, 2019 press release issued by the Women’s Probono Initiative.

    The Women’s Probono Initiative is calling the children’s deaths human rights violations. According to their website these equate to violations of the “right to access adequate treatment, the right to health of the children, the right to life, the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of race and social economic standing and the right to dignity, freedom from torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.”
    3. Bach Allegedly Learned Medical Procedures by Reading and Watching YouTube Videos

    The organization No White Saviors, has accused Bach providing children with medical treatment she learned by watching YouTube videos. The group claims that Bach took children from legitimate hospitals and medical centers for treatment at SHC and was very open about how much she enjoyed providing “hands-on medical care.”

    In a blog post that’s since been removed from the SHC website, Bach wrote about how she cared for a sick infant named Patricia. “I hooked the baby up to oxygen and got to work. As I took her temperature, started an IV, checked her blood sugar, tested for malaria, and looked at her HB count (her family) began to tell me her story.”

    Witnesses claim to have seen Bach perform a number of procedures include drawing blood, prescribing medications, giving intravenous injections, inserting catheters and administering oxygen. Former colleagues said she answered to “mussawo” the Lugandan word for “doctor.” When asked how she was basing treatments, she told one former assistant that she referred to Where There is No Doctor: A Village Healthcare Handbook.

    No White Saviors was able to locate several of Bach’s deleted posts and turn them over to Ugandan authorities. The group also claims that several of Bach’s former staff and volunteers revealed that the SHC founder was performing “high-level medical practices” on local children. Because proper medical protocols weren’t followed, No White Saviors states that it’s difficult to determine exactly how many children’s lives were endangered by Bach and SHC.
    4. Critics Accuse Bach Of “White Saviorism” And “Experimentation”


    Bach’s critics are calling this a case of “white saviorism,” the trend for mostly white aid workers to help non-white people in developing countries in a way that may benefit the non-native individuals more than the community they came to help.

    “We often hear foreign nationals speak of how “corrupt” Ugandan run projects are and that donors should “not trust the locals”, but what exactly is it called when a foreigner pays themselves up to 900% more than their Ugandan staff?” the No White Saviors website asks.

    No White Saviors co-founder Alaso Olivia Patience said in an interview with Al Jazeera that many volunteers say that it is God who sends them from Africa. “Most of the time I ask myself this question: ‘When is God going to send the African people to America or any part of Europe?’”

    Patience stated that Bach’s attempt to provide medical care without training equated to experimentation and that Bach failed to change her behavior even when she saw children die. “People have taken Africa to be an experimental ground where you can come and do anything and walk away and go without anyone holding you accountable.”

    Medical Anthropologist Noelle Sullivan told Al Jazeera that many westerners are socialized from an early age to perform acts of kindness, but often assume they are more knowledgeable about social issues. According to Sullivan, this need to help without truly understanding a community’s history and culture can cause volunteers to undermine the work of local professionals.
    5. Bach’s Attorney Calls the Allegations “Nonsensical”

    On Monday, June 24, The nonprofit legal ministry National Center for Life and Liberty (NCLL), issued a statement on Bach’s behalf refuting the allegations. NCLL stated that Bach “played an administrative role to coordinate the operations and assure funding,” and had left medical treatment up to the Ugandan physicians and healthcare team working with SHC.

    The statement goes on to say that the lawsuit is “entirely without merit.” According to NCCL, one of the children named in the lawsuit was never seen by SHC while another was seen as SHC when Bach was not in Uganda.

    The press release states that NCCL attorney David Gibbs III will be representing Bach in the lawsuit. Gibbs says the Ugandan government is supportive of SHC’s efforts to help malnourished children, describes the accusations as “nonsensical” and says they have been made by “reputational terrorists.”

    “It’s sad when people spend their time attacking the good works of others,” he said.

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    https://people.com/crime/virginia-mi...onated-doctor/

    An American Christian missionary is accused of running an illegal medical facility in Uganda and causing the deaths of at least two children.

    Renee Bach, a native of Virginia, has been named in a lawsuit filed by Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI) and two Ugandan mothers who claim their children died while under Bach’s care.

    According to a WPI press release, the Ugandan women claim to have been duped by Bach and her non-profit, Serving His Children.

    “The mothers allege that they were led to believe that Ms. Renee Bach was a ‘medical doctor’ and that her home was a ‘medical facility,'” the release says. “She was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care.”

    “When their children died, however, they were told that Ms. Renee has no training at all in medicine,” the release continues. “In 2015, the District Health Officer had closed her facility and ordered her to not offer any treatment to any child.”

    Bach, 29, has been a missionary in Uganda for several years.

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    In a 2017 interview with WSET-TV, Bach said her organization had treated more than 3,400 Ugandan children suffering from severe malnutrition since 2011. She told the station that she loved Uganda so much that she “fell in love” with the country during a 10-month mission trip she was just 18. She even adopted a Ugandan girl in 2015.

    Bach’s attorney, David Gibbs, says that the allegations are false and that his client was merely trying to help the less fortunate.

    “For the last ten years, Renee Bach and Serving His Children have served malnourished children in Uganda.” Gibbs said in a statement. “As Ms. Bach worked alongside Ugandan medical professionals, she learned skills to help provide assistance as necessary; and she often assisted nurses and other healthcare professionals to serve in crisis situations.”

    The statement continues: “These sensational allegations are patently false and fail to recognize the 3,600 malnourished children who have recovered because of the care and treatment provided by Serving His Children.”

    A trial is scheduled in a Ugandan court for January 2020. It is not clear if Bach is currently in Uganda or the United States.

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    https://wtvr.com/2019/06/25/virginia...ths-in-uganda/

    RICHMOND, Va., -- A Virginia missionary was named in a lawsuit alleging she impersonated a doctor leading to the deaths of Ugandan children.

    Renee Bach, who is a Bedford, Virginia native, is accused of running an illegal medical facility through her non-profit "Serving His Children" in the African country of Uganda for a decade.

    The lawsuit was filed by Women’s Probono Initiative (WPI) and two Ugandan mothers who claim their children died in Bach's care.

    “The mothers allege that they were led to believe that Ms. Renee Bach was a ‘medical doctor’ and that her home was a ‘medical facility’ as she was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and often administered medications to children in her care," according to the WPI press release.

    "When their children died however, they were told that Ms. Renee has no training at all in medicine and that in 2015, the District Health Officer had closed her facility and ordered her to not offer any treatment to any child."

    Bach's attorney, David Gibbs from the National Center for Life and Liberty (NCLL), stated the allegations were false.

    "My client, in this case, is absolutely not guilty of what's alleged in the lawsuit," Gibbs told CBS 6's Brendan King during a Skype interview. "We certainly have sympathy for any mother who loses a child. That's a heartbreaking loss and we don't want to anyway minimize what they have gone through."

    Gibbs explained one of the children named in the lawsuit was never treated by "Serving His Children," while the other was treated when Bach was not in Uganda.

    "Renee never presented to be a doctor and never misrepresented herself," he stated. "Her organization has treated over 3,600 children successfully."

    Gibbs said his client adopted a girl from Uganda a few years ago.

    Bach has since returned to Virginia after receiving numerous death threats, according to her attorney.

    A trial is scheduled in a Ugandan court for January 2020.

    Local missionaries prepare to travel to Uganda

    For nearly two decades, missionaries from Stony Point Church on Buford Road in Midlothian have traveled to Uganda to help the struggling country.

    "They have very capable doctors and nurses, but the deficit is their equipment and the resources they have to be able to care particularly for the children who are dying," explained Senior Pastor Steve Constable.

    John Keltonic is leading the latest group of missionaries who are scheduled to travel to Uganda on Saturday.

    "They’re not lacking expertise, they’re not lacking education, they’re not lacking skills, they are lacking materials medicine equipment," Keltonic explained. "When we started going to the Jinja Children’s Hospital they were reusing IV lines."

    Since, Stony Point Church have reached out to local hospitals, like Bon Secours, to donate much needed medical supplies.

    The group has shipped dozens of containers full of resources to the developing nation through the government's Denton Program.

    "The purpose of the Denton Program is to allow U.S. based non-governmental sources to transport humanitarian aid at little or no cost to the donor, while simultaneously putting the extra space on U.S. military transport assets to good use. This program is jointly administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of State (DOS) and Department of Defense (DOD)," according to the program's website.

    Constable said his congregation makes a concerted effort not to pass themselves off as medical professionals, but individuals working through Jesus.

    "It takes time to develop these kinds of relationships and build people’s trust," he said. "There’s so much good work being done by so many."

    The National Center for Life and Liberty sent the following statement on the allegations against Bach:

    For the last ten years, Renee Bach and Serving His Children have served malnourished children in Uganda. As Ms. Bach worked alongside Ugandan medical professionals, she learned skills to help provide assistance as necessary; and she often assisted nurses and other healthcare professionals to serve in crisis situations. She never represented herself as a doctor or nurse, but she made nutritional care provided by qualified medical professionals more accessible for families in rural areas.

    Serving His Children hires licensed Ugandan doctors and nurses to provide healthcare through its nutrition programs to combat malnutrition in Uganda. While Ms. Bach is passionate about serving people, she understands that medical professionals should diagnose and treat medical conditions to provide the highest standard of care. In her role as the founder and former director, Ms. Bach has played an administrative role to coordinate the operations and ensure funding for programs so the Ugandan-led staff can focus on providing quality care. Serving His Children currently partners with the Uganda Ministry of Health to run a nutrition unit within a government operated health facility that is funded through the organization's efforts.

    Reputational terrorists are attacking Renee Bach and Serving His Children with false allegations using the platform of social media enabling entire communities to determine guilt or innocence, creating a false reality without factual evidence. These escalating attacks are currently threatening the personal safety of Ms. Bach and her family, as people are believing these lies about her and the services provided by the organization. The media is escalating these safety risks by globally sharing grossly false information.

    The civil lawsuit that was filed against Ms. Bach in Uganda by two mothers is entirely without merit, and will, be vigorously answered in court. Ms. Bach has responded through her legal counsel to all court matters. One of the children in the lawsuit was never treated by Serving His Children. The other child was treated at Serving His Children while Ms. Bach was not in Uganda. These sensational allegations are patently false and fail to recognize the 3,600 malnourished children who have recovered because of the care and treatment provided by Serving His Children.

    Sadly, 3.1 million children die worldwide from malnutrition annually, indicating a clear need for organizations like Serving His Children to assist and come alongside national efforts. Many of the children cared for by Serving His Children are days away from death when they arrive at the health facility with their guardian. Proper treatment for malnutrition combined with health and nutrition education are imperative for these children to not only survive but thrive.

    The Government of Uganda has approved and supports what Serving His Children is doing in their country as part of their national goal to reduce malnutrition. Serving His Children is 100% nationally led and continues to provide quality care meeting national guidelines and under the supervision of the Uganda Ministry of Health.

    Attorney David Gibbs Ill, National Center for Life and Liberty, is representing Renee Bach and Serving His Children. "It is sad when people spend their time attacking the good work of others. Renee is innocent of the nonsensical allegations being leveled at her by people who are leveraging the power of social media for their own agenda without verification of facts. Their defamation, libel, and slander of her in these online attacks bounce around the world with no accountability and no evidence. The attackers are using the Internet to create a crisis that does not actually exist"

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    https://wset.com/news/local/renee-is...-without-merit

    BEDFORD Co., Va. (WSET) -- A woman with ties to our area who runs a ministry in Uganda is being sued for allegedly operating an illegal medical facility in the country.

    Renee Bach grew up in Bedford County and heads up Serving His Children, a non-profit she said that was created for inpatient and outpatient programs that was partnered with the government in Uganda.

    In an interview last year, Bach said her organization had treated 3,400 children suffering from severe malnutrition since 2011.

    Now, a lawsuit is alleging the mothers of two children served by her ministry led to their children's deaths and the deaths of hundreds of children in Uganda.


    No White Saviors
    @nowhitesaviors
    ? Jun 13, 2019
    Some of #ReneeBach ‘s victims are still alive. This is Patricia, left permanently disfigured after a botched blood transfusion performed by Renee. She didn’t cross-match the blood, because she’s not a medical professional, child had horrible reaction & now lives with these scars.

    View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter

    No White Saviors
    @nowhitesaviors
    This is Maasai. He has been left with irreversible physical and mental disabilities because of #ReneeBach ‘s botched medical experimentation. Former staff and the family of Maasai report that Renee Bach was the one to treating their child at @servinghis

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    Women’s Probono Initiative, which filed the lawsuit with the two mothers, said they were led to believe Bach was a 'medical doctor' and that her home was a 'medical facility' and she was seen wearing a white coat and stethoscope.

    She was also seen giving medication to children, according to the lawsuit.

    The mothers allege that when their children died they were told that Bach didn't have medical training and her facility had been closed and ordered to stop treating children.

    They believe that her actions led to the death of hundreds of children.

    The attorney for Bach and her ministry, David Gibbs III, released a statement on their behalf saying she never represented herself as a doctor or nurse, but she made "nutritional care provided by qualified medical professionals more accessible for families in rural areas."

    "For the last ten years, Renee Bach and Serving His Children have served malnourished children in Uganda. As Ms. Bach worked alongside Ugandan medical professionals, she learned skills to help provide assistance as necessary; and she often assisted nurses and other healthcare professionals to serve in crisis situations."
    Gibbs wrote that Serving His Children hires licensed Ugandan doctors and nurses to provide healthcare through its nutrition programs to combat malnutrition in Uganda.

    View image on TwitterView image on Twitter

    Serving His Children
    @servinghis
    Attorney David Gibbs lll put out this press release today on behalf of Renee Bach and Serving His Children. Please read and share.

    3
    8:49 AM - Jun 24, 2019
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    He says that Bach knows medical professionals are responsible for diagnosing and treating medical condition, and she played an administrative role as the founder and former director of the organization. He said she was responsible for coordinating operations and ensuring funding for programs.

    "Reputational terrorists are attacking Renee Bach and Serving His Children with false allegations using the platform of social media enabling entire communities to determine guilt or innocence, creating a false reality without factual evidence."
    Gibbs claims that the recent reports are threatening her and her family's personal safety.

    He also claims that the lawsuit filed in Uganda is "without merit" and will be "vigorously answered in court".

    They claim that one of the children in the lawsuit was never treated by Serving His Children and the other was treated while Bach was not in Uganda.

    "These sensational allegations are patently false and fail to recognize the 3,600 malnourished children who have recovered because of the care and treatment provided by Serving His Children."
    Gibbs wrote that 3.1 million children died worldwide from malnutrition annually, which shows that Serving His Children is needed. He also said that the Government of Uganda has approved and supports what Serving His Children is doing in their country.

    "It is sad when people spend their time attacking the good work of others," Gibbs wrote. "Renee is innocent of the nonsensical allegations being leveled at her by people who are leveraging the power of social media for their own agenda without verification facts. Their defamation, libel, and slander of her in these online attacks bounce around the world with no accountability and no evidence. The attackers are using the Internet to create a crisis that does not actually exist."

    One of the groups that is trying to garner attention toward the case is No White Saviors (NWS). They've asked for help finding a Virginia licensed attorney to consult on pursuing legal action against Bach and Serving His Children.


    No White Saviors
    @nowhitesaviors
    ACTION ITEM: We need as many of you as possible to RT this @ @TheDailyShow & @TheDailyShow — we want to see the #ReneeBach story talked about as far & wide as possible. We believe this is right in Trevor Noah’s wheelhouse! https://twitter.com/nowhitesaviors/s...29604547301378

    No White Saviors
    @nowhitesaviors
    We think @Trevornoah and @TheDailyShow would share the #ReneeBach case if they were made aware of it. We need some of his spot-on satire to highlight the bigger issues at play. How an untrained missionary from VA was able to experiment on Ugandan kids, resulting in 100+ deaths.

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    The organization claims that many of Bach's 'victims' are still alive are left permanently scarred including disfiguration and mental illness.

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    https://www.irishtimes.com/news/worl...anda-1.3940693

    A legal case against an American missionary accused of causing the deaths of children under her care, while she posed as a medical practitioner, has raised a debate about foreign aid workers and “white saviourism” in Uganda.

    Renee Bach, a Christian from Virginia, travelled to Uganda in 2007 at the age of 18 and founded the organisation Serving His Children, in Jinja, a southern town home to the source of the Nile. Its website describes the organisation as a “God-breathed and directed ministry working to end malnutrition in families and communities”.

    The case against Bach is being brought by two mothers whose children died. In case documents, they say they were led to believe she was a “medical doctor” and her home was a “medical facility”.

    Bach was often seen wearing a white coat, a stethoscope and regularly administered medication to children in her care, they say. It was only after their children died they discovered Bach had no training in medicine and her facility had been ordered to close amid allegations of medical malpractice.

    In a statement released through her lawyer, Bach said she never represented herself as a doctor or a nurse, but “learned skills to help provide assistance as necessary; and she often assisted nurses and other healthcare professionals to serve in crisis situations”.

    Deleted blog post
    In a now-deleted blog post – recovered by the advocacy group No White Saviours, which has been highlighting the case – Bach previously wrote about treating children. “I hooked the baby up to oxygen and got to work . . . I took her temperature, started an IV, checked her blood sugar, tested for malaria, and looked at her HB count . . . After doing a search for blood around Jinja town, we found her type and it was a match! We started the transfusion . . . ”

    The Kampala-based Women’s Pro-Bono Initiative is representing the Ugandan women, who say their children were among many who died under Bach’s care.

    “These mothers lost their children as a result of Renee’s and Serving His Children’s illegal and unethical conduct,” Primah Kwagala, Women’s Pro-Bono Initiative chief executive, told The Irish Times.

    “They want Renee to be stopped from providing any medical services, they want her punished for her past conduct in monetary terms and for [the] court to declare that her actions led to violations of their human rights including the right to life, health, abuse of their dignity, discrimination on the basis of race and social standard.”

    A lawsuit has been adjourned until 2020.

    While Bach’s lawyers dispute that she ever came into contact with either of the children who died, one of the challenges with the case is that Serving His Children didn’t keep proper records, according to Kwagala.

    “It’s common knowledge that Renee – not being a medical professional – never kept records, she had no idea what should and what shouldn’t be recorded. The court will look at the evidence on court record to decide if her assertions are true or not.”

    David Gibbs, attorney for Bach and Serving His Children, and president of the US-based National Centre for Life and Liberty, said he believed more than 100 children had died since Serving His Children began operating, but said this was not due to malpractice, and many were already very sick when they came in for treatment. Some were referred on to hospitals, he said.

    ‘Vigorously defend’
    Bach will “vigorously defend” her non-profit and her own name, Gibbs said, while denying claims she is hiding in the US to avoid these allegations. “If that requires her to attend trial she will do that.”

    Gibbs called members of No White Saviours “reputational terrorists”.

    In an interview with The Irish Times, he said it was possible the group wanted to affect donations and “create fear, doubt and panic”.

    Kelsey Nielsen, co-founder of No White Saviours, denied this. “In order for them to win this case, one of the only plausible strategies they have is to paint Renee as the victim of a ‘character assassination’,” she said.

    “Like Renee, I am also a white American woman who travelled to Uganda with a great deal of passion and good intentions. I can understand and relate to how Renee started off but ever since I was made aware of the severity of what she was doing, I have only wanted to see a proper legal process and investigation take place.”

    Nielsen said one of the reasons the group is publicising this case is because Serving His Children is still operating in Uganda.

    Her co-founder agreed. “People have taken Africa to be an experimental grounds where you can come and do anything and walk away . . . without anyone holding you accountable,” Alaso Olivia Patience told Al Jazeera. “If it was a black woman who went to any part of the US or Europe and did this they would be in jail right now.”

    ‘Miracle cure’
    Bach is far from the only foreigner to garner attention in Uganda due to allegations of maltreatment of locals. In May, the Guardian revealed that a British man and US pastor had been involved in giving a bleach-based “miracle cure” to as many as 50,000 Ugandans.

    Robert Baldwin and Sam Little were accused of distributing the mixture, known by advocates as MMS or Miracle Mineral Solution, to villagers through churches, giving local pastors smartphones in exchange for assisting them.

    They allegedly claimed the industrial bleach could cure diseases including cancer and Aids.


    Little (25) was arrested in Uganda five days later, while Baldwin, who is in the US, denied distributing the bleach and told local media he was being demonised.

    “All I wanted to do is help people using natural healing therapies,” he said.

    If the allegations are substantiated, Little “must face the law”, said a spokesperson for the Ugandan ministry of health. “Samples of the chemical concoction have already been obtained by Uganda National Drug Authority and security agencies for testing.”

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    https://abcnews.go.com/International...ry?id=63930370

    Renee Bach was still a teenager when she left her small hometown in rural Virginia and moved halfway across the world to Uganda, after spending just 10 months there on a mission trip.

    She set up a Christian nonprofit, Serving His Children, in southeast Uganda in 2009, first providing free meals to families in need, then offering free inpatient and outpatient treatment for malnourished children as well as community engagement programs aimed at breaking the cycle of malnutrition. The organization's website is peppered with Bible verses, appeals for donations and images of Ugandan children, many with the telltale signs of severe malnutrition: sunken eyes, protruding ribs and bloated bellies.

    "At the time, I didn't even know that malnutrition was a huge problem in Uganda," Bach, 30, told ABC News in a recent telephone interview. "That wasn't something I had been exposed to. It definitely wasn't the plan initially."

    Serving His Children, which works with local doctors and nurses, claims to have successfully treated thousands of malnourished children in the region's rural, impoverished communities over the past several years. Success stories and transformation photos of young patients are featured on the organization's website and social media pages.

    But a lawsuit filled with sweeping accusations that was filed in Uganda earlier this year tells a different story, claiming that Bach, who has no formal medical training, diagnosed and treated children while running an unlicensed medical facility there, leading to the deaths of "hundreds of children."

    The court documents, obtained by ABC News, detail a litany of complaints against Bach and Serving His Children, with statements from two mothers whose children died as well as affidavits from former employees and volunteers. Among the allegations against Bach are performing medical procedures such as blood transfusions and inserting intravenous catheters, disregarding sanitary protocols and attempting to diagnose patients who showed symptoms frequently related to serious illnesses like HIV and AIDS.

    PHOTO: A sign advertising the Serving His Children nutrition unit at the Kigandalo Health Center IV, Mayuge district, Uganda, May 2018. Emily Coffey
    A sign advertising the Serving His Children nutrition unit at the Kigandalo Health Center IV, Mayuge district, Uganda, May 2018.
    One former volunteer stated in her affidavit that Bach allegedly "frequently wore a stethoscope around her neck" and "was aware" she was known in the community as the "white doctor." The person claimed that Bach based her treatment on her "gut feelings," relied heavily on the book "Where There Is No Doctor" and "did not follow orders of any local medical professional."

    Bach's attorney, David Gibbs, has vehemently denied the "nonsensical" allegations and maintained that his client is "innocent." Gibbs, who is president of the National Center for Life and Liberty, a Florida-based Christian legal advocacy group, said his client's organization provides "quality care meeting national guidelines and under the supervision of the Uganda Ministry of Health."

    "This hurts Renee, obviously, and what she's done with Serving His Children," the attorney told ABC News in a recent telephone interview. "But the ultimate victims in this are the malnourished children in Uganda that aren't able to receive services when these types of lies and misinformation are put forward, and it is very disruptive and it's very unfortunate."

    In a statement released late last month, Gibbs said Bach "worked alongside Ugandan medical professionals" where she "learned skills to help provide assistance as necessary." He also maintained that she "never represented herself as a doctor or nurse, but she made nutritional care provided by qualified medical professionals more accessible for families in rural areas."

    And Ugandan health officials investigated Bach and Serving His Children earlier this year, finding no evidence that large numbers of children died or that Bach was treating children.

    'I feel his life was snatched from my arms'
    Bach and Serving His Children are being sued in civil court in Uganda by two mothers who claim their children died because of the care they received from Serving His Children. Their lawsuit was filed in the High Court of Uganda on Jan. 21 by the Women's Probono Initiative, a Kampala-based advocacy group that provides free legal services to women and girls in Uganda.

    The Women's Probono Initiative said it is seeking accountability and the enforcement of human rights, as well as monetary damages for the two mothers who lost their children.

    "It is unacceptable, narcissistic behavior, for any one, black or white, rich or poor, missionary or angel to pass off as a 'medical practitioner' when they are not," Beatrice Kayaga, a lawyer with the Women's Probono Initiative, said in a statement. "By doing so, they mislead unsuspecting vulnerable members of the public."

    The first mother named in the lawsuit, Zubeda Gimbo, said in an affidavit that at some point after her 3-year-old son, Twalali, had been diagnosed as malnourished at a health center, an unnamed woman she says she later learned worked for Serving His Children came to her village in Namutumba district in July 2013 and, along with Tawali's grandmother, brought him to the organization's facility in Jinja district for treatment. Three days later, Gimbo said she received a telephone call that her son had died at the facility. The woman who had taken Gimbo's son returned his body and gave the family 50,000 Ugandan shillings (about $13.50), then left the village before the burial without providing any explanation as to what happened, according to the complaint.

    In court documents filed on March 11 in response to the lawsuit, Bach said she wasn't even in the country when Gimbo's child was at Serving His Children's facility, but that he was cared for by a doctor and nurses. Copies of Bach's passport and the organization's patient records, which were included in the court documents, show that Bach was out of the country at the time of his care.

    Alonyo Constance Milech, a midwife who has been working as the head nurse at Serving His Children since 2010, said in an affidavit that Twalali suffered from "acute malnutrition associated with severe malaria" and was "given the best care possible."

    (MORE: Ebola-stricken boy who became 1st cross-border case in growing outbreak dies)
    PHOTO: A nurse attends to children in the Serving His Children nutrition unit at the Kigandalo Health Center IV, Mayuge district, Uganda, May 2018. Emily Coffey
    A nurse attends to children in the Serving His Children nutrition unit at the Kigandalo Health Center IV, Mayuge district, Uganda, May 2018.more +
    The second mother named in the lawsuit, Annet Kakai, said in an affidavit that she was in her village in Buikwe district in July 2018 when she was introduced to a woman named Fatuma who she says she later learned worked for Serving His Children. Kakai said Fatuma convinced her to take her 1-year-old son, Elijah, to their facility "to feed him so he can grow fat." Kakai said they first went to a medical center where Elijah was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Then they went to the Serving His Children facility in Jinja district where "a white lady," whom Kakai said she later learned was Bach, took her baby and "went into a room with him" for an hour, then returned him to her and said to come back the next day, according to the complaint.

    When Kakai returned with Elijah, she said the Serving His Children staff drove them to the government-run Kigandalo Health Center IV in neighboring Mayuge district, where health workers checked her son's weight and gave him milk. Kakai said they were discharged from the health center after two days, without any further instructions or medication for her child. Kakai said the Serving His Children staff drove them back to Jinja district and gave her 2,000 Ugandan shillings (less than $1) to find her way back home, according to the complaint.
    Part 1

  22. #22
    Senior Member blighted star's Avatar
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    This should really be in the death threads, since it involves deaths





    Anyway, here's a new article on this serial kkkiller

    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...SXtIgt0slnLdWs

    American With No Medical Training Ran Center For Malnourished Ugandan Kids. 105 Died
    SPECIAL REPORT

    August 9, 20195:44 PM ET

    NURITH AIZENMAN
    MALAKA GHARIB




    Renee Bach, 30, has left Uganda and is now back where she grew up in Bedford County, Va.
    Julia Rendleman for NPR


    Ten years ago, Renee Bach left her home in Virginia to set up a charity to help children in Uganda. One of her first moves was to start a blog chronicling her experiences.

    Among the most momentous: On a Sunday morning in October 2011, a couple from a village some distance away showed up at Bach's center carrying a small bundle.

    "When I pulled the covering back my eyes widened," Bach wrote in the blog. "For under the blanket lay a small, but very, very swollen, pale baby girl. Her breaths were frighteningly slow. ... The baby's name is Patricia. She is 9 months old."

    Bach went on to write that Patricia had fallen sick three weeks earlier. But her parents had been unable to find anyone closer to home who could cure her.

    Then, wrote Bach, "One of their relatives told them about a 'hospital' ... with a 'White Doctor.'"

    Except Bach was not a doctor. She was a 20-year-old high school graduate with no medical training. And not only was her center not a hospital ? at the time it didn't employ a single doctor.


    Yet from 2010 through 2015, Bach says, she took in 940 severely malnourished children. And 105 of them died.

    Now Bach is being sued in Ugandan civil court.

    "Something that I was supposed to do"

    How could a young American with no medical training even contemplate caring for critically ill children in a foreign country? To understand, it helps to know that the place where Bach set up her operation ? the city of Jinja ? had already become a hub of American volunteerism by the time she arrived.

    A sprawling city of tens of thousands of people on the shores of Lake Victoria, Jinja is surrounded by rural villages of considerable poverty. U.S. missionaries had set up a host of charities there. And soon American teens raised in mostly evangelical churches were streaming in to volunteer at them.

    Bach was one of these teens. On her first trip, in 2007, she worked at a missionary-run orphanage ? staying on for nine months.

    Once back home in Virginia, Bach ? now 19 years old ? came to a life-changing conclusion: She should move to Jinja full time and set up her own charity.

    In an interview with NPR, Bach says it felt like a calling from God.

    "It was a very, very profound feeling and experience. It's kind of hard to even describe in words," she says. "Like there was something that I was supposed to do."

    At first Bach wasn't sure what that was, beyond a sense that it should address some need that wasn't already being met by existing charities.

    Funded by money raised through church circles back home, Bach rented a large house in one of Jinja's poorer districts, called Masese, and began testing out options, including starting a program to serve a free hot meal to neighborhood children. Twice a week about 1,000 of them would line up by Bach's house to receive a bowl of food. Bach named her charity "Serving His Children."

    According to Bach, word of her feeding program spread through Jinja. In the fall of 2009, she says, she got a call from a staffer at the local children's hospital asking if she could help out with several severely malnourished children.

    Bach says the staffer told her that from a medical standpoint, these kids had been stabilized. They just needed to be fed back to health. Could Bach take them in?

    Bach says seeing a child in this state ? impossibly thin arms, ribs poking out, sunken eyes ? "was almost an out-of-body experience. And a sense of, 'Oh my goodness, this isn't right. This needs to stop.' "

    She says she agreed to help the children. And before long she came to feel that this was God's plan for her: turn the house into a center where malnourished children and their mothers could live while the youngsters recuperated ? complete with free rations of the special foods they would need, the medicines doctors had prescribed and lessons for the mothers on nutrition ... and the Bible.

    In early 2010 Bach posted a blog entry titled "Here we go!" Her nutrition center was up and running.

    A disillusioned volunteer

    Jackie Kramlich was one of many American volunteers drawn to the center.

    "I went in with a lot of admiration," Kramlich recalls.

    It was the summer of 2011.

    By this point Bach had hired three Ugandan nurses to help out during the day and stocked a room she dubbed "the clinic" with medical gear such as oxygen tanks, IV catheters and monitoring equipment.

    The center was caring for as many as a dozen children at a time.

    But Kramlich ? who had just been certified as a registered nurse in North Dakota ? was taken aback to realize just how sick these children were. They weren't just malnourished. They had complicated illnesses.

    "Pneumonia, intestinal parasites, tuberculosis, many were in stage 4 HIV," Kramlich says.

    Almost every week a child would die.

    Also, it seemed to Kramlich that Bach, now 22 years old, was handling a lot of the medical care herself.


    A court filing by Ugandan attorney Primah Kwagala includes excerpts from Renee Bach's blog as well as from a blog posted by a supporter of her charity who had visited and taken photos. This page above includes a photograph of Bach inserting an IV catheter into the vein of a severely malnourished child.


    Jan. 21, 2019, court filing by complainants suing Renee Bach in the High Court of Uganda in Jinja

    Which brings us back to that baby Bach wrote about in her blog: 9-month-old Patricia.

    In her blog, Bach wrote that she immediately ushered Patricia and her parents into "the clinic."

    "I hooked the baby up to oxygen and got to work," she wrote. "Took her temperature, started an IV, checked her blood sugar, tested for malaria, and looked at her HB count." (That's a measure of hemoglobin in the blood.)

    "I was attempting to diagnose the many problems that could potentially be at hand. Got it: Malaria: positive. H.B. 3.2. ... a big problem ... most likely fatal. ... She needed a blood transfusion. And fast."

    Next, Bach wrote, "we" ? it's not specified who is meant by "we" ? started a blood transfusion for Patricia.

    But about 30 minutes later, Patricia seemed to take a turn.

    "Her neck and face started swelling. A lot," she wrote. "[Her] breathing went from bad to worse. Her throat was beginning to close."

    That's about the moment Bach called Kramlich on the phone to ask if Kramlich could swing by the center.

    "So I walk in," Kramlich recalls, "and there's this child, swollen, wheezing." Kramlich could see the blood still being transfused into Patricia's vein. "And [Bach] goes, 'You know, I think she might be having a reaction. But I don't know. Because, you know, Google says that if they're having a reaction, they'll have a rash. And I don't see a rash."

    Kramlich says that as was often the case, it was clear to her that Bach was the one making the medical decisions. And in this instance, she says, none of the staff nurses were even at the center.

    "It's just horrifying," says Kramlich. In Uganda, just as in the U.S., only a medical professional is permitted to perform invasive procedures like a blood transfusion. She says her thought at that moment was, "This isn't a game. You have no business running blood ? at all."

    Bach says it's true she would sometimes perform medical procedures such as running the tubing into a child for a blood transfusion or inserting an IV.

    And sometimes, Bach says, "without a medical professional standing right next to me, yes. But it was always under the request and direction of a medical professional."

    As for her blog posts, Bach tells NPR, "I was just writing to tell a story to my friends and family.

    "And a mistake that I made that I wish I wouldn't have is, I very much wrote in first person ? which looking back sounded very prideful as if I wanted to allude to the fact that I was, you know, doing all of those things myself. But the reality was that there were medical professionals present doing those things."

    In the case of baby Patricia, Bach's memory is that one of the staff nurses at her nutrition center did the blood transfusion. And she says when Patricia seemed to have a reaction, this nurse called up a private doctor, who ? over the phone ? recommended that Patricia be rushed to a hospital.

    Bach and Kramlich do agree that ultimately, Bach drove Patricia to a hospital. And Patricia lived.

    But for Kramlich this was too close a call.

    "I was just beside myself. I mean furious."

    Soon after, Kramlich quit ? four months into what she had originally intended to be a yearlong volunteering stint. Kramlich also sent a letter of concern to the charity's board of directors back in the U.S.

    <<snipped>>

  23. #23
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    ...continued


    Dangers of treatment

    In retrospect, Kramlich says, she thinks the problem with Bach's center went beyond Bach's hands-on approach to medical procedures. Under both international health guidelines and Ugandan law, if a severely malnourished child has the kind of extra complications Bach's center was taking on ? serious respiratory infections, dehydration, swelling ? this child must be treated in an advanced medical facility.

    Ideally this would be a hospital ? but at the least a higher-level health center that has been especially approved by Ugandan health authorities, says Dr. Joel Okullo, chairman of the Uganda Medical and Dental Practitioners Council ? the enforcement agency for Uganda's health regulations. Treating a child in this condition at even a lower-level health clinic "would be breaking the law," says Okullo.

    And at this point, Bach's nutrition center didn't have any kind of health license or any doctors on staff.





    Saul Guerrero specializes in childhood severe acute malnutrition at UNICEF, the world authority to which countries turn for help setting their regulations and treatment programs.

    Guerrero says malnourished children with extra complications are so fragile that unless a health provider knows exactly what he or she is doing, it's actually safer to do nothing.

    "Their metabolism is not working. Their immune system is not working. So once you initiate any kind of treatment that will very often have knock-on effects," he says.

    Just hydrating them by putting them on an IV can trigger a heart attack ? if the sodium and potassium content isn't continually adjusted to match the child's fluctuating levels.

    And if health workers are not treating the child in a facility that is fully equipped to immediately address such emergencies, says Guerrero, "the chances that that child will die are very, very high."

    In 2011, of the 129 children Bach took in, 20% died ? nearly a third of them in the first 48 hours. In 2012, the death rate among these in-patient cases was 18%.

    By 2013, Bach had hired two doctors and the death rate was 10%.

    But Guerrero says even that rate is high by the standards set by international aid groups. He adds that a designated government facility in Africa may have a death rate of 20% or even higher at its in-patient ward if it is serving a very vulnerable population. But facilities with those rates "make it all the way up to New York, to us at HQ, because they are seen as a problem," he says.

    An American attitude

    Bach says she took in these complicated cases "not because we felt like it was fine." But because there didn't seem to be a better place for them.

    "I mean I can tell you time and time again," she says to NPR, "taking kids to hospital after hospital, and them being like, 'meh ? we don't really deal with malnutrition. Your best bet is to take them back to your nutrition center.'

    "It wasn't ideal. But what do you do in a non-ideal situation?"

    Hanifa Bachou, a Ugandan pediatrician who specializes in malnutrition, finds Bach's explanation preposterous.

    "No, no, no. I don't accept that," says Bachou. During the period at issue, Bachou, then based at the NGO University Research Co., was working with Uganda's government on a U.S. government-funded project to set up in-patient care for severely malnourished children across the country. And by 2010, Bachou says, Jinja's regional referral hospital had a well-established malnutrition unit to care for complicated cases of severe acute malnutrition.

    But even if there was a need for more in-patient care facilities for malnourished children, specialists in medical ethics say it was not appropriate for Bach to try to provide it.

    "Just think of the arrogance," says Lawrence Gostin, who heads the Center on National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. "Who are you to assume that you can do better than they can? It's not your judgment call to make."

    Gostin adds that while the circumstances of Bach's case may seem exceptional, he sees her actions as stemming from an attitude many Americans bring to developing countries.

    "The American cultural narrative is that these countries are basket cases."

    And so, says Gostin, Americans assume that whatever their qualifications, they're sure to be of help.

    The result, Gostin says, is that everyone from college kids to credentialed doctors routinely parachute into poor countries for medical missions that completely disregard local laws and conditions.

    "People think that they're doing good. And they have no idea how much harm they can cause."

    And people back home in the U.S. are often complicit, says Gostin. Because when these volunteers write blogs or post videos to share their exploits, "They're celebrated."

    Seeking justice

    Kramlich, the volunteer at Bach's center, says this mindset is a big reason that even after quitting, she didn't go straight to the police. That is what she would have done had she encountered a center like Bach's in the United States.

    But in this instance, she says, "people are praising [the center]. And [Bach] is receiving funding. And she looks like Mother Teresa. You think, 'It's so out in the open that, well, surely there must be something to this that's OK.' "

    But in February 2015, after hearing from an employee at Bach's center that problems there persisted, Kramlich filed a report with Ugandan police.

    A month later a district health officer shut the center down.

    In his report, the inspector noted that in 2014, Bach had obtained a health license for the center. But it had expired. And in any case, the license had only authorized the center to operate as an outpatient clinic. Instead, on his visit to the charity, he had found "very sick children who need[ed] referral to higher centers."


    Primah Kwagala, a Ugandan attorney, has filed suit against Bach on behalf of two mothers of children who died after being cared for by Bach's charity.
    Majunga Eva Lisa/evashots_Photography


    "It is what shocked most of us," says Primah Kwagala, a Ugandan civil rights attorney. "We couldn't imagine a human being without skill taking into her care people that were almost on their deathbeds."

    Bach notes that a few years later, the government authorized her to reopen her center, this time in direct partnership with a government health center in a different district and with Bach no longer involved in the medical care.

    But Kwagala, who runs a legal aid group specializing in public health, says Bach should have been held accountable for the deaths of children in her care. So early this year, she filed a civil lawsuit against her. It's on behalf of the mothers of two of the children who died.

    Her court filings include excerpts from Bach's blog as well as a blog posted by a supporter of the charity who visited and took photographs ? including one of Bach inserting an IV catheter into the vein of a severely malnourished child.

    The next hearing date is scheduled for January 2020.

    Bach says the publicity in Uganda over the suit has already made it untenable for her to remain there. "I get death threats all the time." She has moved back to Virginia and has no plans to live in Uganda again.

    Kwagala says the suit is deeply necessary. These families deserve justice, she says. And there's a larger principle at stake: Imagine, says Kwagala, if a 20-something Ugandan woman had gone to the U.S. and set up an equivalent arrangement to treat impoverished American children.

    "She would have been prosecuted. She would have been behind bars," says Kwagala.

    In the U.S., says Kwagala, "I don't think she would have lasted two hours."

  24. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by blighted star View Post
    This should really be in the death threads, since it involves deaths





    Anyway, here's a new article on this serial kkkiller

    https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsan...SXtIgt0slnLdWs





    Here is more Renee Bach goes on the defensive over her role in the abuse and deaths of people in Uganda. I say the USA needs to investigate her for fraud too given that donors were mislead into believing that Bach was a humanitarian and donors had no clue their money was being used to cover up the abuse of people in Uganda though.

  25. #25
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    She should be extradited to Uganda to stand trial as a serial child killer.

    That's not gunna happen though so hopefully something really fucking nasty randomly befalls her. ASAP.

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