his name was conner, a baby boy just three days old, rushed to the hospital with no signs of life. upon. >> come on, wake up and cry. you have to do this for your mommy. >> he was later pronounced dead, but was he? >> connor's heart began beating again. >> our son was alive through a miracle. >> but when they could not revive him, one doctor made one final choice.

>> he was blowing through his nose and hoes mouth so he wouldn't breathe anymore. >> did you understand what he meant by that. >> did the doctor they trusted deliberately kill their child? >> he did everything humanly possible to save that child. >> what happened during connor's last moments? >> no parent should have to go through this ever. in this hour, an unnatural death? it was snowing january 12th, 1998. the kind of night when staying home and snuggling up seems like the best thing to do. an easy call who had brought connor home from the hospital the afternoon before. >> never happier? >> no. >> than when connor was born? >> i was on the couch, on the corner of the couch playing with marty and a friend of ours. >> holding the baby. >> yeah. >> a few miles away, the

pediatrician connor's parent his chosen, dr. eugene turner was also spending that snowy evening at home. he was on call at the local hospital, olympic memorial. it was not by chance that the mcnerneys had selected dr. turner. he was by all account, the most respected, most trusted baby doctor in town. >> he'd been a doctor for almost 40 years. >> i wouldn't take my son to somebody that i didn't trust. but what happened next would destroy that trust, it would pit the actions of this compassionate doctor against the hopes of these young parents. it would enrage a community, ask complicated questions about life and death. >> i was feeding him and i thought he fell asleep and he came up to eat some more and he wasn't breathing. >> when she asked me if something seemed that was wrong, and i noticed that he wasn't

breathing and i grab would him and started giving him cpr and it was the scariest thing i had to do. >> 911. >> a friend who was visiting called 911 at 7:40. you can hear michelle crying in the background. >> and the problem? >> my friends' 3 day old son is not breathing at all. >> dealt baby just stop breathing just now? >> we don't know. >> is it a normal color? >> no. >> the paramedics arrived four minutes later. >> baby canner had no pulse, he was limp and pale. a breathing tube was forced down his throat, but paramedics were able to inflate only one lung. >> what were you thinking? >> i've never been that scared before. >> do you remember what youed to each other? >> i don't. you will i could do was pray.

i just wanted him back. you don't expect that to happen three days after the best day of your life. >> michelle jumped in the backseat of the ambulance to ride with connor. >> i just heard him yell back and forth to tell the hospital, but i could aren't understand what they were saying. >> connor was delivered to a very busy emergency room at olympic memorial. the full code team went to work and an iv was inserted into connor's arm and medications to revive him were started. the nurse noticed that at first he looked dead and blue, but as the steady rhythm of the bagging and the artificial breathing began, he regained a normal pink color and nurses could detect a pulse. his frantics were worried about what had gone wrong with their seemingly healthy baby. it was a mystery to doctors. >> did anyone come and say this

is what happened to your son? >> they just said he wasn't breathing on his own. >> at that time at olympic memorial, the only medical facility that serves 18,000 people in the community did not have a high-tech equipment you'd find at a big-city hospital. no infant ventilator and no eeg to measure brain waves. that's yet usual practice was to stabilize severely ill babies and send them by airlift northwest hospital to children's hospital in seattle. that's what they tried to do for connor. >> i have a 3 day old infant who is recurringly coding. doesn't have much of a heart rate and. >> but this night connor mcnerney was out of luck. >> due to weather we are unable to do the flight at this time. >> because of the snowstorm, airlift decided it wasn't safe to fly. now it was up to the doctors and nurses here to try to save his life.

the e.r. called in the pediatrician, dr. eugene turn tore take care of connor's care. he arrived at 8:45 after the first efforts to resuscitate the infant had begun. turner and another attending physician noted that the baby was unresponsive and his pupils were fixed and dilated, signs that he would not survive, but dr. turner continued to try to revive him. marty and michelle were brought into the room. for them it was an eerie scene. >> it was dark. it was like he was the only thing in the light is the way it felt to me. >> we kept saying, come on, wake up and cry. you have to do this for your mommy. >> connor had good oxygen levels and a steady heartbeat, but was still not breathing on his own. dr. turner presented a devastating picture. >> we were told that the best condition was that there would be massive brain damage or worse

that he was already dead and they were just keeping him alive. >> the emergency team tried another course of medication. marty and michelle were told they had a painful decision to make. >> it seemed like some kind of nightmare. the only thing we could do was leave it to god, so we made a decision that we just had to basically back off and disconnect him from everything that they had him on and wait. >> at 9:54, more than two and a half hours since michelle had been feeding her precious newborn son, cradling him in her arms, 3 day old connor mcnerney was pronounced dead. >> we held him for a few minutes and they took him off and we left the room and went back out into the hallway where our friends and family were at. upon. >> did you say good-bye? >> i couldn't. it didn't seem real enough. >> you left that hospital

thinking your son had died. >> yeah. coming up, to marty and michelle, their son's death didn't seem real. perhaps there was a reason. 4g-- the next evolution in wireless technology. with advanced power, the verizon 4g lte network makes your business run faster: smartphones, laptops, tablets, mobile hotspots. but not all 4g is created equal. among the major carriers, only verizon's 4g network is 100% lte,

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pronounced dead. >> how are we doing with that kiddo? >> it expired. >> then i won't need to continue on with this. >> okay. thanks, ma'am. >> this is mike. >> i'm calling about the baby. >> hi, i understand the baby expired. >> thanks. >> i didn't know if you knew that. >> we were just about ready to go, actually. >> at about 10:30, three hours after he had first stopped breathing at home, nurse lori belcher walked into the room and heard connor gasp. she later told investigators it's not unusual for a dead body to make such a noise so she was not surprised. connor's body had been pumped full of oxygen and drugs to stimulate his heart and breathing. even after death, the human body can exhibit a kind of delayed reaction, a gasping doctors call breathing, caused by a tiny bit of brain stem still shooting out

impulses. >> when the baby gasped again and again, the nurse began to time them noting that she made four to eight a minute. she felt his heartbeating. she called dr. turner back to the room. she recalls that he rubbed connor's back to try to stimulate him and began the bagging again to pump oxygen to his lungs. >> was it possible he was coming back from the dead? dr. turner and the head emergency room physician tried to reinsert the breathing tube, but connor's throat was too swollen and despite the heartbeat, good color and near-normal oxygen levels, connor was still limp and gasping and his eyes showing no signs of life. lori belcher recalls him saying no. he wished to spare them further grief. it was a fateful decision.

>> dr. turner tried one more treatment. wrapping the baby in cold towels. there was no response. then shortly before midnight after almost four hours of trying to revive him, dr. turner asked to be left alone with the infant. according to nurse boucher, when she returned to the treatment room he had his hand over the baby's mouth and pinching his nose closed. dr. turner said he could not stand to watch this go on any longer, but what exactly did he mean by this? only then did connor stop breathing. his heart ceased to beat. his body was taken to the morgue. >> you went home believing your son had died. when did you find out that had not been the case? >> a few days later. >> on january 15th, three days after connor's death dr. turner asked marty and michelle to meet

with him here at his office. >> he said that he started breathing again and that he wasn't getting any better so he -- he tried for about two hours, to revive him and it wasn't having any effect. so he -- he covered up his nose and his mouth so he wouldn't breathe anymore. >> did you understand what he meant by that? >> i had no idea. from what he was telling us he was already dead even though he was still breathing. >> he said it was to stop the suffering because there was no help. >> did you ask him why he had not called you. >> he said he was trying to save us. >> did you accept that answer at the time? >> at the time, yeah. we thought he did everything he

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while marty and michelle mcnerney were getting ready for their son connor's funeral, over at olympic memorial hospital, anguished nurses, doctors, administrators and lawyers were struggling with connor's unusual death. the cause was still unknown and the action of his position, dr. eugene turner were in question. the hospital's executive committee decided to report the incident only to washington's medical quality assurance commission, not to the police. a letter was approved and mailed. but before that letter ever reached its destination, someone who wasn't even in the hospital when connor died brought the case into a very public spotlight. >> my assumption was a crime had occurred.

>> a former paramedic and cop worked as a technician and e.r. at the hospital. dr. turner was his family's pediatrician. >> he cared for three generations of my family. my wife when she was a child, our children and grandchildren. >> did you ever have any problems. >> none whatsoever. three generations. after 27 years, i pick my physicians very carefully and he was trusted. >> hess ler was off the night, after talking with his coworkers he went to the police and reported that a homicide had been committed. >> they possessed the knowledge and believed it to be true and accurate and had at that point i remained silent i would be complicit. >> he also believed rumors that the hospital was destroying evidence, was engaged in a conspiracy and a cover-up. >> i suspected that administration was involved at

all levels in the altering of the evidence, and that precluded me from going to them, so i felt i had no choice, but to go directly to the authorities. >> officials at olympic memorial hospital declined several requests for an interview for this report and issued a statement, vigorously denying a cover-up. the hospital note ied the medical board is obligated to report any crime to the prosecutor. the hospital denied destroying documents saying all relevant information was transferred to the medical record. >> when the news that dr. eugene turner had been accused of smothering a baby hit the local paper, the town erupted. of all people he was one of the most respected members of the community. a selfless person who did volunteer work, distributed free food, refereed soccer games and even traveled to africa on church missions. >> it's hard to read that somebody that you care about was being called a murderer when you know it's not true.

you couldn't have asked or been blessed with a better physician. >> there were rallies and fund raisers in support of the doctor. >> i truly do not believe that child was alive when that act happened. i feel that dr. turner did everything humanly possible to save that child. >> now connor's parents who originally believed dr. turner did his best to save their baby were having second thoughts. >> port angeles police came by a couple of weeks later asking questions. >> i started to feel the second time the police officer showed up. >> you started to feel what? >> anger and pain. >> because -- >> because i started to realize that connor was alive again, and that his chance at life was prevented. >> at what point were you

convinced that something happened that night that should not have? it kept going through my mind that -- that he'd tried everything, that dr. turner tried everything he could to save our son. >>y kept trying to convince myself to believe it because things like this just don't happen. >> that's what you were telling yourself. >> yeah. >> at some point you didn't believe that anymore? >> until i read the police report. >> when you read the police report, what did you receive here that changed your mind? >> it was the information the second time that they'd started resuscitation on our son, that he was getting better. >> and what was your response to that? at first i was just, like -- i felt i lost him again. >> do you believe now that connor was, in fact, breathing on his own? >> yes. >> if he was well, well enough

to breathe on his own why would dr. turner put his hand over connor's nose and mouth? >> i don't know. >> at the end of august, after eight months of investigation, the district attorney made a decision. he charged dr. eugene turner with second-degree murder. the severity of the charge stunned the community. >> please be seated. >> reporter: his supporters filled the courtroom at his arraignment. >> do you plead guilty or not guilty. >> not guilty, your honor and i'll repeat that so everybody can hear it. not guilty. >> the fact is that connor's brain was dead. >> turner's lawyer, jeff robinson laid out the defense position at a press conference. >> the emts reported that when they first got to connor he was neurologically unresponsive. his heart rate was zero. he was not breathing. there was no pulse. he was cold and blue. his pupils were fixed and

dilated. by common medical criteria, connor mcnerney was already dead before he ever reached the emergency room at olympic memorial hospital. >> turner's defense team argued that the infant had suffered a massive and irreversible brain injury before dr. turner was involved in attempts to revive him. >> how did this injury occur in the first place, i don't know the answer yet this is the question we all need to be asking. dr. turner did not suffocate this baby. this baby was already dead. dr. turner's conduct were all appropriate stand ars of medical care. >> the defense attorney's position was clear. dr. turner could not have been responsible for connor's death since the infant was no longer alive when the nose and mouth were covered by the doctor, but they didn't believe that. >> our son was alive through a

miracle and that miracle was prevented. >> is that what you believe? >> yes. >> that it was a miracle. >> that connor came back? >> yeah. >> is it possible that dr. turner believed that your son was brain dead? >> i don't know what he was thinking. >> is it possible that he thought he was ending connor's suffering? >> if he was suffering that would mean he's alive. >> and you believe what should have happened in that case? >> first, they should have called us back. we wouldn't have let them stop a second time. there's no way. it wasn't his choice to make. it was ours. >> coming up, what caused connor mcnerney to stop breathing in the first place? >> it's unusual for a baby who is previously full term, happy, healthy and at home to suddenly have a cardiac arrest or to stop breathing.

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msnbc now. i'm lori wilson. italian officials say claeshs between roman police and protesters who are upset with the economy are some of the worst violence the city has seen in years. peaceful protests arne the globe today have sprung up to show solidarity with the occupy wall street movement. thousands turned out for a march led by reverend al sharpton in d.c. that rally intended to garner support for obama's job plan. more news later, now back to "unnatural death." in august, 1998, the town of port angeles, washington, was in a collective state of shock. connor mcnerney, a 3 day old baby boy was dead and dr. eugene turner, a beloved peat pediatrician who had been practicing in the town for decade his been charged with his killing, but the doctor's defense team claimed that the baby was already dead when dr.

turner placed his hand over connor's nose and mouth. so was connor dead at that point or still clinging to life? it's a fine line. >> if he is not breathing for 20 minutes and getting no oxygen, it is extremely unlikely he can survive and if he does survive he will survive with neurologic impairment. >> dr. wetzel specializes in critical care, but he did not treat connor. >> if you were resuscitating a baby for four hours and you have no evidence of any spontaneous cardiac activity and the heart is flat lined and has been for four hours you may be breathing for that baby, it would certainly be reasonable to say stop. >> for the mcnerneys, there were mountains of troubling questions. if dr. turner had truly believed connor had no chance for survival that night, why had he tried a second time to revive him and if death was inevitable,

why not simply let nature take his course instead of putting his hand over connor's face and most important why hadn't dr. turner or anyone else at the hospital called them so they can make the choice about connor's treatment and be with him? >> the mcnerneys filed a claim against the hospital. some people in town called them greedy, but their attorney said there was a principle at stake. >> there are some people who will look at michelle and marty say these people are in it for the money. sue the doctor, sue the hospital and see what they can get. >> that's so wrong. marty and michelle have suffered a horrible tragedy. they lost connor, and they lost more than that. they had their basic human right, their right to make decisions about their child's welfare taken from them by a doctor who decided on his own to

substitute his judgment for the parents' rights. >> the mcnerneys were filing their claim just after his arraignment on the murder charges, dr. turner seemed eager to respond. >> i am waiting especially for the chance to be vindicated. >> at the time of the trial, dr. turner declined repeated requests for us for an interview. he did speak with a small port angeles station, konp radio and the local newspaper. he told the peninsula daily news that connor was dead at the time the emts arrived at the home, much less at the time the baby arrived at the hospital. he says he saw nothing, that in my experience gave home for resuscitative success for connor. adds his gasping could have gone on for minutes or hours. in the radio interview he expanded that estimate. >> the baby could have gasped and had a heartbeat for minutes or hours or possibly days afterward.

>> he told cable television that from the beginning, everything he did was for connor's parents. >> there was a foregone conclusion that no resuscitative efforts could do anything, but prolong this death and that the activities that we went through from the first hour or so simply were based on emotional efforts for the sake of the parents. >> but if he had it to do over again, i probably would not have done the last act not because i didn't think it was the right thing to do, but because i would not care to drag innocent people from all walks of life into a situation such as has been done this time. >> dr. turner said nothing about putting his hand over connor's face to the pathologist who performed the autopsy. upon he told the newspaper he dictated notes on his actions in a narrative summary, but

connor's medical records says only that connor stopped breathing, nothing about how or why. >> it certainly raises serious questions about why he would not put it in the record. >> does it suggest a cover-up? >> i think that's a possibility. >> for the baby's parents, there are still no answers, not even to the most basic question. what happened to connor? >> it's unusual for a baby who is previously full term, happy, healthy and well to suddenly have cardiac arrest or to suddenly stop breathing. >> they said they noticed nothing wrong until they realized connor had stopped breathing and since connor's body was cremated no new tests are possible. >> based on what happened that night, we'll never know why he stopped breathing to begin with. >> did the autopsy reveal anything?

>> nothing. >> coming up, connor's case reverberates in the political arena. >> if it pans out that i lose the election because i tried to do the right thing. well, that's the way it goes. and another tragedy startles the port angeles community. having triplets is such a blessing. not financially. so we switched to the bargain detergent, but i found myself using three times more than you're supposed to and the clothes still weren't as clean as with tide. so we're back to tide. they're cuter in clean clothes. thanks, honey. yeah. you suck at folding. [ laughs ] [ female announcer ] just one cap of tide plus bleach gives you more cleaning power than six caps of the bargain brand. visit facebook.com/tide to learn about special offers. that's my tide. what's yours? exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank.

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just months after marty and michelle mcnerney lost their son connor, dr. judge een turner stood charged with second-degree murder for suffocating the child. the quiet community of port angeles, washington, was in the middle of a media frenzy. dr. turner's supporters raised more than $40,000 for his defense and were very public about their support. marty and michelle mcnerney found comfort in their faith and

family, but living in port angeles became a challenge. >> so difficult when they're snubbed and there's a lot of negativity, but you know, we're not going anywhere. >> in town, some suggested that connor stopped breathing due to something that happened at home. >> for a parent to lose a child is horrendous enough. to be blamed or have any accusations that they may have done something to that child isn't just unfair. it's devastating. >> meanwhile, the case even became a political issue. veteran prosecutor david bruneau was up for re-election. he put the case on his campaign agenda. >> if it pans out that i lose the election because i tried to do the right thing, well, that's the way it goes. politics be damned. >> a month after filing charges against dr. turner, bruneau lost

his bid for re-election after 17 years of service. his successor, chris shea, promised to reevaluate the charges. >> i may need to get a good look at whether we should have an independent prosecutor. >> the case was later transferred about 90 miles away to snohomish county. >> the fact that there were feelings for dr. turner in the community makes it very difficult for us. this particular issue and the issue of the death of this child and the causation of the death of this child -- of the child is rather unique for us. dr. turner was not the only doctor who would claim his life was changed as a result of connor's death. just six weeks after the infant died an emergency room physician on call at olympic memorial hospital that night also made headlines. yesterday authorities found debbie rowan dead in the family station wagon. dr. bruce rowan had observed dr. turner's efforts and had questioned his ashgsz especially his decision to wrap the infant

with ice-cold cloths. he placed a call that evening to a neo-natologist in seattle to discuss his concerns. >> when he called me he said that the pediatrician in the emergency room was using a therapy he hadn't heard of before and wanted to know whether this was something that i thought was a good idea. dr. turner was using ice-cold cloths in an effort to resuscitate the baby. i told him i'd never heard of that therapy before and perhaps dr. turner was confusing a different type of therapy so i asked to talk to dr. turn tore find out more about the therapy he was proposing to use. unfortunately the line went dead after he went to talk to dr. turner and by the time i was able to re-establish contact i found out that the baby had died. >> on march 1, 1998 dr. rowan took his wife deborah to see a movie. later that evening, as she lay sleeping, he bludgeoned her to

death with a baseball bat and an axe. >> the victim was to the front part of the head and the face and they're consistent with the use of an axe and a small baseball bat. >> the day after the murder rowan survived a suicide attempt. he later claimed he was depressed and the depression made him kill his wife and the emotional state was surrounded by connor's death at olympic memorial hospital. >> i can only imagine what must have been going through. it must have been a disturbing event. >> rowan was found not guilty by first-degree murder and committed to western state mental hospital for an indefinite amount of time. once again, troubling events related to little connor's death had gripped the town. a pall was cast over the city of port angeles. for dr. turner, his life time of

service to children and families was in jep arty. his medical license was suspended by the state and they suspended his abilities to make decisions about the resus of a patient. the sharp differences of opinion continued to divide and mcnerneys were still at a loss to explain the sudden death of their son. >> do you believe that your baby son connor was intentionally killed by the doctor? >> well, it depends on what you consider to be intent. we believe that our son was alive and that his life was ended. >> do you believe your son was murdered? >> i -- i -- all i know is that what was done was totally wrong. no parent should ever have to go through this. ever. and if i can do anything to prevent it from happening again, i will. >> more than a year after connor

mcnerney died dthe doctor appeared in court. second-degree murder in baby connor's death. the prosecution decided that they could not provide sufficient evidence to prove a crime had been committed. >> i will sign the order of dismissal without prejudice at this time. >> i was elated and overcome. that simple. very happy. >> why the tears? >> my wife will have to tell you that. >> try living with the charges of murder for a year. it's a huge nightmare. >> turner spoke with nbc's kelly o'donnell about the night connor died. >> what were you trying to achieve by continuing any resuscitative efforts? >> the fact that those in

attendance observing the baby were uncomfort in a situation which it appeared as though the baby still had life, and in order to placate them i needed to prove everybody that this was a futile situation. >> looking back now with hindsight, do you believe it was wrong to cover the baby's nose and mouth? >> i certainly don't believe it was wrong. i think it was -- again, a judgement based on all of the extenuating circumstances that were extent on that snowy evening. period. >> connor's patients still believe it was a judgement dr. turner had no right to make. >> it warrant his choice to make. it was ours. we would never have allowed him to do that. >> because the mcnerney's believe connor's gasping was a second chance at life. >> it's a miracle.

>> under these circumstances there are no such things as a miracle. >> prosecutors consulted medical experts who believed connor's condition was irreversible. dr. turner's lawyer says the investigation found that his actions did not cause the baby's death. it was certainly unusual. it may not be what other doctors would have done, but i don't think that's the issue. >> he being not have been resuscitated, not by dr. turner and not by anyone else. >> dr. turner was free and able to continue his practice, but the strain of the accusation took its toll. >> i watched him age. i watched him lose a part of himself and i don't think anybody can understand and just -- picture yourself going to sleep at night and what would it be like to go to prison? >> love you. >> even upon though prosecutors dropped the second-degree murder

charge, connor's parents were still presenting to pursue a civil lawsuit. >> marty and michelle are looking for an understanding and a recognition that dr. turner, what he did was wrong, was unacceptable and the motivation in that is to protect other children and other families because these are decisions that no doctor can take a decision about the well-being of a child out of the hands of his parents and make that decision on his own. so that's what they're looking for from dr. turner is an accept able by him that what he did was terribly wrong. coming up, questions linger in the case against dr. turner. >> the fact of pinching a baby's nose close -- woman: we love ordering sushi, but it was getting expensive. so to save some money... man: looks great, hun... woman: ...and we're not real proud of this. man: no...we're not.

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in 1999, the day after 3-year-old connor died of unnatural causes, the washington state quality commission charged his pediatrician, dr. turner, with unprofessional conduct. the baby still had respiration and circulation, so it was determined under washington state law that connor was not legally dead at the time dr. turner blocked his airway. dr. craig jackson was asked to testify at dr. turner's hearing with the commission. >> i think it's an incredible story about a doctor trying to do the best he could. he had enormous compassion for the family and patient. unfortunately, he made several errors of medical adjustment. >> according to dr. jack son, the diagnose of brain death was not accurate. >> connor was clearly not brain dead when he arrived. brain death is defined as lack of any activity of the brain including the brain stem. when he was resuscitated, he had

breathing activity and his heart was beating. he clearly wasn't dead. the diagnosis of brain death would have taken considerable amount of time. many tests could have been done and they're very difficult to do, deaths of 3 day old babies. they have been brought to the department with irreversible brain injury aand will die and i think that was the situation with with connor. >> narrator: even so, he should have involved the parents in the decision he made and pronouncing connor dead. >> the error was not waiting long enough with life support to pronounce him dead. the did this nine minutes after discontinuing life support. that's a very short period of time if the baby's heart had been beating before that, it takes quite a while for the baby's heart to stop. there's no rush to pronounce a baby dead, it's not critical.

>> narrator: despite that, the medical assurance stus said the baby died at home and not the as a result of dr. connor's actions and was in an inevitable irrevocable process of death. >> i don't know dr. connor's reasons for pinching the baby's nose closed. it could be frustration and exhaustion. it was not an appropriate medical intervention. it's not described in the literature. it's not standard of care. in fact, i think most people when hearing about it would say, why would you do something like that? it sounds like it might cause more suffering for the baby to be suffocated. >> narrator: dr. jack son says connor's case poses critical questions about medical errors and judgments and how severely they should be punished. >> is it okay to make mistakes? is it okay to make errors of judgments and still be valued by the community and public?

it's an issue that comes up in hospitals all the time. how do you punish people for making mistakes? how do you honor and cherish people doing the best they can for their patients. i think that's why this became a very controversial story. the tensions on the side of justice and mercy. >> narrator: the commission decided to censure dr. turner for hastening connor's death, an acknowledgement he violated state medical law. the censure will remain on his disciplinary record permanently but the commission allowed him to continue his practice. turner reflected on what his young patients have meant to him. >> everything. it's my life. what the practice is all about. it is a fulfilling thing of the highest order. >> narrator: two years after the censure and after treating kids for more than 30 years, dr. turner retired in 2001.

as for the civil suit planned by connor's parents, nothing was ever filed against dr. turner. an olympic memorial hospital said in a statement the doctor and family resolved out of court under confidentiality. the department of health investigated and determined there were no deficiencies found at the hospital. connor's short life brought the town of los angeles an its medical community under intense scrutiny and profoundly changed the lives of those directly involved in the tragedy. though retired, dr. turner has remained active and traveled extensively to tanzania to do volunteer work at a hospital. daniel hesler, the emergency room technician, who notified authorities what dr. turner had done was discharged from olympic memorial and started painting houses to make ends meet. >> i'm sad. this is a tragic event. tragic for all of us. i don't see any winners here.

>> narrator: dr. bruce ro wen, the man who questioned his actions that night and later killed his wife was released from western state hospital in 2005 after seven years there. almost a year and a half after losing connor, marty and michelle had another boy. six months later the couple divorced. according to michelle, connor's death took a heavy toll on their relationship. >> i believe that marriage can withstand a lot if both parties are worth it, willing to try. unfortunately, you know, some people can't get over situations like others. >> narrator: michelle re-married and gave birth to two more boys. >> connor will always be the oldest boy. when people ask me how many kids, i will always say i have four boys. to me, he's always my firstborn and always will be. and my boys know that they have that older brother to watch out for them now. >> narrator: michelle is no

longer in touch with marty and remains unsure about the events surrounding her son's death. >> i don't think i'll ever understand why the doctor did what he did but i'm no longer angry. i have moved past that to -- you know, getting to the point where i can accept that he did it. i don't understand it, but i can accept it. >> narrator: she likes to think the tragic events of her past have contributed to the positive aspects of her life today. >> honestly, i think it's made a better mom out of me, made a better person of me. i am a lot more cautious with my children, but i love them more and i try to show it to them everyday that i love them and i try to tell them that. i don't know if i would have necessarily done that all the time as much as i do, forever i hadn't lost connor. but, you know, it's nice to have these boys to look and go, well, okay, there is something, there is something there. >> narrator: to this day, no one knows why connor suddenly stopped breathing or what ended his short life so abruptly.

michelle wondered what would have happened if dr. turner had chosen a different course of action. >> i'd like to believe he'd still be here, i do. part of me thinks, yeah, he'd probably still be here. but those things now, you know, you can't ever know for certain. >> narrator: there are many unanswered questions related to connor's death including ethical issues about the treatment he received. >> given the public's and physician awareness of the issues of euthanasia over these past many years, i think it's possible dr. turner would have understood that the act of pinching a baby's nose closed really constituted euthanasia and was not approved. >> narrator: michelle is grateful for the life she has now. >> i really want people to know that you can move on from tragedy. it's not something that has to keep you