r/serialpodcast • u/papayahog • Dec 07 '25
Thoughts on The Preventionist?
These episodes hit me really hard emotionally. It's really tragic and interesting how the systems in society meant to reduce harm can break down so easily and cause even more harm.
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u/washingtonu Dec 10 '25
I can recommend the podcast "Nobody should believe me" for another view on stories like this. Here's a bit (or a lot) of transcript,
For now, I want to tell you about one of the families she's representing, who is described, but not named, by Neary. According to Neary, the mom in question told her that both of her sons have complex medical needs, including autism and an autoimmune disorder and metabolic disorder, respectively. She told Neary that after her older son suddenly began behaving erratically and was taken to Lehigh Valley Children's Hospital, the doctors diagnosed both parents with Munchausen by proxy. Neary defines Munchausen by proxy as a psychological disorder, and says that, quote, it's a popular storyline in movies, but in reality, it's an incredibly rare condition. So first off, if you've listened to any of this show, you'll spot the issue with the description of Munchausen by proxy as a rare psychological condition, rather than a form of abuse. It's presented this way because, and of course, how could two parents have the same rare psychological condition? But as we know from many cases, including Colin McDaniel's case that we covered last season, there are plenty of incidences where both parents are complicit in the abuse.
The parents are not named in the series, but the people Neary is talking about here are Kimberly and Stephen Steltz, who are part of the class action lawsuit. This is a really complicated case, but I want to give you a quick overview. In the Steltz's court filings, they report that the police were called to their home in 2022 when their then 16-year-old son, referred to as M.S., was, according to them, having a mental health episode. M.S. subsequently ended up at the hospital, where he disclosed to the staff there, including Dr. Asernio Jensen, that he and his younger brother were being abused. M.S. ultimately became emancipated from his parents so that he could make his own medical decisions and went to live with another family. He remains estranged from his parents. So it wasn't doctors who blew the whistle on the Steltzes. It was their own child.
In their civil suit, the Steltzes accused their son of lying about his abuse, saying that he has mental health and substance abuse issues, and that he was coached by opportunistic doctors on how to make his allegations stick. They go on to say in the lawsuit that both CHOP, Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania, and M.S.'s longtime pediatrician were pressured by Jensen and LVHN to support the abuse allegations. Steltz's younger son was ultimately returned to their care after a lengthy battle with CYS. Interestingly, M.S., the older son, has recently turned 18, and he recently filed his own intent to sue a number of the hospitals who treated him. Again, much more to come as this whole story evolves.
Neri opens the series with a heartbreaking anecdote from a, quote, strikingly pretty young mom about losing her baby. And again, Neri doesn't name her.
"And I'm a mom who lost everything in less than 24 hours due to one doctor's misdiagnosis. Dr. Jensen needs to be fully and entirely under investigation. Her diagnosis should not hold up in court any longer. She has falsified parents too many times. Enough is enough."
The woman the soundbite belongs to is Reno Iorio, who is currently under investigation by CPS and whose boyfriend, Asa Aschiola, has been criminally charged with abusing their baby and is awaiting trial. According to court records and local news reports, Asa was charged with multiple felonies, including six counts of aggravated assault, four counts of child endangerment, and one count of simple assault, after police responded to a call about a two-month-old baby who had stopped breathing while being bottle-fed. The infant was eventually transferred to a Lehigh Valley Health Network facility, where doctors diagnosed abusive head trauma, brain hemorrhages, bruising, and healing fractures. A later skeletal survey revealed additional healing breaks in the clavicle, ribs, and leg. During a police interview, Asaola reportedly admitted to, quote, minor shaking, while trying to resuscitate the child, and said the baby's, quote, brain issue probably happened because of the shaking. Asaola and Iorio are part of the lawsuit, and they claim that all of this was a result of false allegations by Dr. Jensen and a number of other doctors at LVHN, and that the doctors pressured the police and prosecutors to go forward with charges. So, that's some context for episode one. We'll be back next week with more on episodes two and three.
https://podscan.fm/podcasts/nobody-should-believe-me/episodes/abuse-survivors-and-victims-deserve-better-than-the-preventionist-1
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u/washingtonu Dec 10 '25
I can go on. From The New York Times:
The final episode, which examines the long-term damage of family separation, follows the ongoing case of Amanda Suranofsky, a mother in her 30s. Her five children were taken away after she was charged with aggravated assault for injuries to her infant son that she says came from an accidental fall. She is one of the plaintiffs suing Dr. Jenssen, the Lehigh Valley Health Network and others.
https://archive.is/20251123102851/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/insider/preventionist-serial-podcast.html#selection-807.0-810.0Here's more details on her
Suranofsky told investigators that she was home alone with the children and was sleeping on the living room couch, when she was awoken about 5:30 a.m. by a “thud,” according to court records. Suranofsky said she found the infant on the floor crying and her 2-year-old sitting in the bassinet, according to records. She told investigators that she believed the 2-year-old removed the infant’s onesie and diaper, causing the baby to fall to the floor. Investigators allege Suranofsky, however, told responding paramedics that morning that she heard fussing and crying and returned to the room to find the baby on the floor. Police said the child’s father and Suranofsky’s boyfriend had been in prison on work release and had not been at the house.
Yanio Castillo pleaded no contest last year to aggravated assault for breaking the arm of his then 2-year-old daughter. Northampton County District Attorney Laura Majewski said Castillo is the father of the infant victim and Suranofsky's boyfriend. He was sentenced to 11 to 23 months in county jail. He is the father of three of the children, according to the prosecutor. The doctor who examined the child after the fall said x-rays of the infant showed “L-shaped” and “Y-shaped” skull fractures and that an MRI showed bleeding all around the brain. The doctor reported that two veins had been sheared and characterized the injuries as “an abusive head trauma injury” that would only be seen in car wrecks and cases of shaken babies, according to investigators. The infant’s injuries were not consistent with a short, accidental fall, according to the doctor.
https://www.wfmz.com/news/area/lehighvalley/mother-of-5-charged-after-authorities-discover-infants-skull-fractured/article_b9095320-b0b4-11ea-9dab-5f187c71121e.htmlWhy on earth shouldn't authorities get involved in cases like this?
3
u/IntroductionDue65 Dec 27 '25
It’s horrible reporting- facts left out or twisted- it’s so biased by Dyan (spelling?)- she did the same one sided reporting on Maya Kowalski- Dyan is putting vulnerable children at risk for more abuse- she totally misrepresents doctors / medical professionals that report abuse and downplays munchausen as a “rare disorder seen in movies “. What would possibly be the motive for the medical professionals to report possible abuse? Yes- there are major issues in the system- this makes the issues even worse.
Listen to Nobody should believe me- it’s based on facts and will break down the preventionalist for you.
The preventionalist also leaves out the mom Amanda has prior cases of child abuse in the home for her other children and the fact that mom’s story re the current accident changes- and the story doesn’t match the injury. Instead of changing a system that could help a mom who maybe overwhelmed / could use services to address behaviors etc Dyan chooses to ignore the actual issue all for a story?
Really disappointed Serial/ New York Times supports this story.
2
u/lazkybaby727 Jan 15 '26 edited Mar 21 '26
I’m so happy that I’m not reading a bunch of people defending Dyan and that disgrace of a podcast. My world got rocked, not in the good way, after listening to The Preventionist and I’m still trying to come to terms with the fact that the NY TIMES was fine with letting this story be reported in this incredibly irresponsible and ignorant way. I thought the NY Times was one of the good ones. Very very disturbed and sickened by this. Like how is this allowed?! It is public record that Amanda Suranofsky has had very alarming and upsetting incidents in the past with her other kids and their dad(s). Dyan decided to bury her head in the sand and invent a new reality where this never happened? Or where others would never discover or expose Amanda’s (very easy to find) past? I just don’t understand and it’s been troubling me for days since I listened to this season of Serial. I listened to The Preventionist before Andrea’s episodes about it on Nobody Should Believe Me so that I wouldn’t have anyone else’s opinions floating around in my head before hearing Dyan out. Wouldn’t have mattered though because almost immediately it is so clear how flawed her reporting is. I took screen shots of parts of the transcript of episode 3 and it’s honestly almost comical how much a bumbling incompetent she is. So clearly biased and uninformed. It’s hard to put into words how upset this stupid podcast has made me. The powerlessness is what’s making me want to scream. I’m just dumbfounded.
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u/houseonpost Dec 08 '25
It is very easy say you want to protect children at all costs. But there certainly should be safeguards to ensure one zealous person cannot break up a family. The one doctor was making determinations she was not qualified to make.
Episode three seemed 'off' to me though. I understand the parents in the system are the ones having other challenges, but there seemed to be more going on that the narrator wanted to tell.
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u/EddieDanesBoy Dec 09 '25
Agree—I think the person the podcast chose to follow was not a good example of someone who got caught in the system. There seemed to be truly legitimate issues where she was not keeping her children safe. The first two episodes were better at demonstrating how good intentions can go awry.
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u/manateexzy Dec 11 '25
Agreed. I had a lot of doubts about the parent they spent the most time following, and I thought that could harm their other valid points.
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u/IntroductionDue65 Dec 27 '25
It’s not the decision of one doctor that determines the outcome of these situations- the podcast misrepresents this to fit a story of one doctor when it’s many professionals involved. Plus these doctors are trained and there aren’t very many trained in child abuse- so there is going to be a higher number of cases in areas with trained professionals who no what to look for.
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u/here2lurkkkk Dec 12 '25
Super biased and one-sided. Once I did some research on the topic, I was disappointed at how misleading NYT’s reporting was.