He was accused by a pediatrician of abusing his daughter, but always maintained his innocence.

After years of the Michigan Innocence Clinic fighting for justice for Josh Burns, his conviction has now been vacated.

Back in 2015, the 7 Investigators led the way exposing what many in our community called a serious injustice that threatened to tear one family apart. Now the Burns family finally has an ending to their story.

Extended interview: 'It's changed us forever.' Josh and Brenda Burns speak about their family's journey 'It's changed us forever.' Josh and Brenda Burns speak about their family's journey

Josh and his wife Brenda say they had their world turned upside down back in 2014 when they say they were falsely accused of abusing their infant daughter Naomi at their home in Brighton.

Its the hardest thing Ive been through in my life, Burns told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.

Devastating, humiliating, terrifying, said Brenda.

Josh said when Naomi was two months old, she slipped off his lap and he caught her by the face to keep her from hitting the floor. Both Josh and Brenda say it was an accident, and Naomi had no obvious injuries other than a small bruise. Later, doctors discovered bleeding between the baby's skull and brain, and they found retinal hemorrhages. Both parents and some medical experts said that Naomi's injuries were largely caused by birth trauma and illness. But a Child Abuse Pediatrician and Livingston County prosecutors said it was abuse.

Did you abuse your daughter? asked Catallo.

Never. I would never hurt my daughter, said Burns.

While Brenda was later cleared of all charges, a jury convicted Josh of 2nd degree child abuse, which is a 10-year felony.

But the community rallied around Josh, signing petitions and holding protests.

Its hard to describe the feelings of going into prison an innocent man. But the blood of my innocence is on their hands, said Burns in 2015.

Citing all the community support, the judge sentenced Josh Burns to a year in the county jail.

I know the media coverage, especially from Channel 7 was huge, said Burns. I know that it had a direct impact on the judge and sentencing. I was facing 10 years in prison. She took a downward departure in my sentence and gave me the minimum sentence possible.

Lawyers from the Michigan Innocence Clinic saw that coverage of Joshs case and wanted to help.

Extended interview: David Moran speaks about shaken baby syndrome cases David Moran, co-founder of the Michigan Innocence Clinic, speaks about shaken baby syndrome cases

Of all of the shaken baby cases we've had, the testimony that was given against Josh Burns may have been the most egregious. So we took this case on direct appeal, which means, unlike the vast majority of our cases where we're revisiting the case years, maybe decades, after the conviction, we decided to take his case right after he was convicted and do the appeal, said David Moran, the former co-director and co-founder of the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic.

Moran recently retired from the UM Innocence Clinic, but hes championed the Burns case for years.

When the appeals did not work, Attorney General Dana Nessels Conviction Integrity Unit took the case and got prosecutors to agree to vacate Joshs conviction and dismiss the child abuse charge. The judge signed the order November 21, 2024.

It's really the greatest feeling in the world professionally I think that a lawyer can have, is winning a case on behalf of a very, very nice, solid person who is so grateful for the help and who deserves to have this outcome, said Moran.

Josh Burns is the 45th person the clinics students and lawyers have helped exonerate, and hes the 6th person accused of something called shaken baby syndrome that theyve helped get cleared.

Moran says studies have shown that the symptoms once labeled shaken baby syndrome can be caused by many things other than abuse including accidentally dropping a child, or illness.

The basic idea came from a few papers that were published in the early 1970s, one by an American physician and one by a British physician, that if you see a baby in the emergency room who has three symptoms: subdural hematoma -- that's bleeding on the outer layer of the brain, retinal hemorrhages, which is bleeding behind the eyes and cerebral edema, which is generalized brain swelling Then the only thing that could cause that was violent and abusive shaking by a parent or caregiver. So that was the hypothesis. The problem is that the hypothesis has never been proven. And we now know that there are lots of other causes that cause those three symptoms, said Moran.

Once Josh was released from jail, the Burns family left Michigan. And after nearly 10 years of work by the U of M lawyers and students, the judge recently signed this order vacating Joshs sentence:

We are so grateful, said Burns.

After the order was signed in late November, Josh and Brenda spoke to 7 Investigator Heather Catallo from their home in Texas where Naomi is now a happy and healthy 10-year-old.

She has a rosy view of the world and is fun and creative, said Brenda Burns.

Just being able to look at my daughter now and someday say, I have a story to tell you, justice was served finally-- its an amazing thing, said Josh Burns.

Both Josh and Brenda say the false conviction had massive consequences in their life.

Its changed us forever, said Brenda.

The conviction cost Josh his job as a Delta Airlines pilot, and Brenda was too terrified to have another baby.

I just could not have another child, said Brenda Burns. I was too traumatized.

Always having to look over your shoulder thinking like, okay, we have to take Naomi to the doctors office today What do we have to share about our past? How is this pediatrician going to perceive our family? said Josh Burns.

Now both Brenda and Josh are grateful for the work of the Michigan Innocence Clinic, the Attorney General, and everyone who supported them.

What this really showed is this can happen to anyone. And its frightening, its a frightening thing for parents to realize you can have an accident or you can have a medical issue going on with your child. And if it presents the wrong way to a Child Abuse Pediatrician or an ER pediatrician, you could quickly find yourself in the crosshairs of a system that is just a wrecking ball for families, said Burns.

The 7 Investigators contacted the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Child Protective Services, which pursued the abuse allegations against the Burns family back in 2014 and 2015. A spokesperson provided this statement:

While we cant discuss specific cases due to state and federal laws, MDHHS remains deeply committed to ensuring the health and safety of all children.

If you have a story for Heather Catallo please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com

A patient died while restrained. Others say they were assaulted and abused by staff.

Those are just some of the allegations surfacing in a federal report that led to a local psychiatric hospital losing its Medicare and Medicaid funding.

Previous report: Feds terminate Medicare funding for Pontiac General over alleged patient rights violations, layoffs announced Medicare terminates funding to Pontiac General, hospital announces layoffs

I think about it every single day every day, Bri Jackson said about the way she says she was treated when she was held for nine days inside Pontiac General Hospital.

Bri says after she lost her job and her health insurance in 2022, she ran out of her anti-depressant medication. When she qualified for Medicaid, she went to a family doctor to try to get her medication refilled. Jackson says she was not suicidal but says that request for medication turned into her being hospitalized against her will.

I just wanted to get help. And what I got was not help. I was not helped, Jackson said.

Earlier this year, the 7 Investigators first showed you how other psychiatric patients alleged they were held against their will, not provided any therapy inside the hospital and some of them alleged they experienced abuse.

You can watch that report below: Michigan doc pre-signed blank forms that can rob you of your freedom

Lakeshia says she became her daughters legal guardian after the 23-year-old was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In January of 2022, Lakeshia says she had to take her daughter to a local emergency room during a depressive episode. She then got transferred to Pontiac General Hospital.

My daughter was there for nearly a week without Pontiac General making contact with me, without even so much as a phone call, Lakeshia said.

Lakeshia says when her daughter was able to call, she got terrible news.

She was crying, crying. Im like whats wrong? She said they just jumped on me, Lakeshia said. I said who jumped on you? And she says an employee.

Lakeshia filed a police report about the incident with Oakland County Sheriffs Office.

Previous report: Trapped in a Psych Ward: I felt kidnapped.' New patient speaks after 7 report Trapped in a Psych Ward: I felt kidnapped.' New patient speaks after 7 report

Now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced that the hospitals participation in the Medicare program will be terminated on Nov. 24, 2024.

That means they wont be able to get reimbursed for Medicare or Medicaid patients.

I'm happy that the spotlight is on them and there are going to be consequences and they can stop doing what they're doing to people, Jackson said.

Records obtained by the 7 Investigators give us some insight as to why the feds are doing this.

In early April, CMS records show that a 41-year-old male patient was restrained after he started swinging at staff. The patient fell prone to the floor and staff kept him in that position. The records show one mental health tech used his knee, elbow and chest to keep the patient restrained.

The patient stopped moving, but it took staff several minutes to start CPR and even longer to bring a crash cart with a working defibrillator to the patient. Records show the defibrillator was not used for at least 13 minutes. The patient was pronounced dead after EMS transported him to a separate hospital.

Other findings by CMS investigators include staff punching a patient and hazardous items left accessible to developmentally delayed patients in a janitors closet.

CMS isnt the only agency investigating Pontiac General.

It started following your reporting, Heather, that we opened a project into looking into Pontiac General, Stonecrest Center and Harbor Oaks. That project is related to mental health treatment at those facilities and whether proper protocol is being followed for involuntary treatment and the quality of treatment there. We've been to all three facilities in person in the past six months, including Pontiac General, and we continue to receive calls on those issues and actively investigate them, said Simon Zagata, director of the Community and Institutional Rights Team at Disability Rights Michigan.

Zagata says hes saddened to hear a patient died after being improperly restrained.

The way the restraint was done was contrary to how you're supposed to do a restraint based on the standards. Michigan has standards for how a restraint is conducted in a mental health facility and the fact that this restraint was prone so the patient was face down and had somebodys elbow, chest, knee on that patient's back for an extended period of time that is not how a restraint is supposed to occur. So to hear that someone died because this protocol was not followed, it's sad and quite frankly, it makes me angry," Zagata said.

Zagata says hes relieved to know CMS is taking action.

I was really happy to see those enforcement powers used in a situation where it's pretty clear that patients are not getting appropriate treatment and patients are getting abused, Zagata said. No money, but especially federal money, should be going to pay for treatment that results in that. We're also very concerned and keeping an eye on how the transition happens for people in that community and people receiving treatment there to make sure that they have a place to go to receive high quality treatment.

Previous coverage: 'We don't want patients to be mistreated.' Agencies push for change in wake of 7 investigation Agencies advocating for patients, fighting for change in wake of 7 investigation

In their notice to the state for laying off employees, the hospital owner indicated they expect to get their contract with Medicare reinstated, but its not clear if or when that will happen. Pontiac General Hospital is privately owned. It's CEO is Sanyam Sharma, who has not returned calls and emails asking for comment.

In the meantime, the Oakland Community Health Network had a contract that allowed Pontiac General to bill Medicaid $950 a day for their psychiatric patients. They are now in the process of terminating that contract as well.

A spokeswoman for the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network did not respond to questions about whether they are revoking their contract with Pontiac General.

If you have a story for Heather Catallo please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com.