A Pennsylvania couple was arrested this week after an investigation determined that they had failed “to provide the necessary follow-up care for their newborn premature twins and feeding them so little that they became dangerously malnourished.”
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said the twins, born on October 7, 2024, at 32 weeks, weighed 3.74 pounds and 4.16 pounds at birth. They remained in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit until they were healthy enough to go home with their parents.
But Courtney Soyka, 32, and Marcus Maddela, 45, skipped four scheduled medical appointments for the twins, finally bringing them in on December 11. At that point, doctors were alarmed at the lack of weight gains — the larger baby’s weight had increased to just 5.78 pounds and the smaller baby was at 5.04 pounds.
The twins were taken to St. Christopher’s Hospital in Philadelphia, where their weight gain after just three days was a marked improvement. A doctor that said the increase in weight was indicative of a poor caloric intake at home.
Doctors there also said there was no other indication of illness in the twins. A doctor said the weight loss could have been addressed sooner if the parents had not missed their pediatric appointments over the two months since the twins’ birth.
Soyka and Maddela were charged with two counts each of felony child endangerment and conspiracy. They were ordered held on $500,000 bonds.
