Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Monday, Nov. 27, that a Bronx woman has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment for allegedly deliberately giving her 3-year-old daughter anti-seizure medication the child did not require.

 

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “The defendant allegedly caused her young daughter to become  ill by giving her an overdose of prescription medication to treat epilepsy, which the child did not have.”

 

Clark said Tajanhae Brown, 24, of East 163rd Street, The Bronx was arraigned on Monday before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Kim Parker on charges of attempted assault in the first degree, second-degree assault, first degree reckless endangerment, attempted assault in the second degree, and endangering the welfare of a child. The defendant is due back in court on Feb. 7, 2024. Electronic monitoring with supervised release conditions was continued, according to the prosecution.

 

According to the investigation, on or about, and between May 2, 2023, and May 3, 2023, Brown brought her then-3-year-old daughter to the Emergency Department at Montefiore Children’s Hospital in Norwood and reported to medical staff that the child had not received her morning dose of anti-seizure medication prescribed to treat epilepsy.

 

The child was admitted to the hospital and the level of anti-seizure medication in the child’s blood was found to be toxic. While in the pediatric intensive care unit at Montefiore Children’s Hospital, and after being informed that her daughter was toxic, Brown allegedly gave the child additional anti-seizure medication which created the risk of exposing her daughter to serious medical complications.

 

According to the investigation, between her daughter’s date of birth on May 22, 2019, and May 8, 2023, Brown allegedly endangered the child’s welfare by bringing her to 15 different medical providers on at least 190 separate occasions. She also allegedly falsified her daughter’s medical history and diagnosis and made factitious representations about the child’s physical and psychological signs and symptoms to staff at the various medical providers.

 

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Rachael Baughman, of the child abuse/sex crimes bureau, with the assistance of Trial Counsel Astrid Borgstedt, under the supervision of Mimi Mairs, chief of the child abuse/sex crimes bureau, and the overall supervision of Adrienne Giunta, deputy chief of the special victims division, and Joseph Muroff, chief of the special victims division.

 

Clark thanked Trial Preparation Assistant Elaina Clarke and Jeffrey Moro for their assistance. She also thanked NYPD Detective Julia Watson of the Bronx child abuse squad for what she said was her significant work on the investigation.

 

The defendant is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.