Accused doctor Melvin Morse out on bail

Dr. Melvin Morse, a local pediatrician accused of abusing his daughter, has posted bail pending a court appearance Thursday, Aug. 16, in Sussex Court of Common Pleas.

Morse is scheduled for a preliminary hearing, which his attorney, Joseph Hurley, said he plans to waive.

"There's no use getting a second coat of negative paint on you," Hurley said.

Hurley said Morse first contacted him in connection with charges that Morse had dragged his daughter across a gravel driveway. A parent of one of the girl's friends contacted police about the incident, Hurley said.

In July, Morse was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and one count of third-degree assault and released on $750 bail. During the investigation into the alleged dragging, however, the girl told detectives about other incidents.

Court records show the girl told detectives Morse held her face under a running faucet, causing the water to go up her nose and all over her face – a term police said Morse called waterboarding. The girl detailed several incidents in which she said Morse held her head under a faucet. She also told detectives he would cover her nose and mouth with his hand until she collapsed, court records state.

Morse is out on $14,500 secured bond, while his wife, Pauline Morse, is out on $14,500 unsecured bond in connection with felony endangering the welfare of a child and other charges.

Hurley would not say where Morse is staying. Pauline Morse was contacted at her home Aug. 9 and said the children were her main priority. The children are in the custody of the Division of Family Services. By court order, Pauline and Melvin are no permitted to have contact with one another or with the children.

Hurley said he does not know what Morse's defense would be at this point.

"It's just started," he said. "It's like a football game, and we've had the toss of the coin, and we'll have to see how the game plays out."

Hurley said in the past, the girl has said things that could not be relied upon.

"In the past she has lied, and you have to take what she says with a pound of salt," he said.

Pediatrics practice and near death experience

State officials suspended Morse's medical license Aug. 9 following an emergency complaint filed by the Attorney General's Office.

Morse was a licensed pediatrician in Delaware and had worked at Scott Pediatrics in Milton. He worked part-time at the Milton office for about two years until last May, said Gary Alderson, attorney for Scott Pediatrics. Alderson said Morse stopped working at the practice because he wanted to spend more time with his mother.

Jason Miller, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said the attorney general filed the emergency suspension because of "the representation that Morse made to law enforcement that he was currently practicing medicine."

Neither Miller, Delaware State Police spokesman Cpl. Gary Fournier nor Christopher Portante, spokesman for the Division of Professional Regulation, could confirm where locally Morse may have been practicing medicine prior to his arrest.

Morse gained national and international exposure for his work on near-death experience in children. He appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show, Larry King Live, 20/20 and Good Morning America and wrote several books based on his research.

Morse maintained a website for The Institute for the Scientific Study of Consciousness where Pauline Morse also wrote a blog.

On the website, Morse writes, "My challenge to my fellow physicians: Take the stethoscopes out of our ears and start to listen to our patients about their spiritual visions ... Listening up to the message that it's not scary to die could save the United States six billion dollars a year. (The cost of irrational end-of life healthcare that does not prolong life one second)."