The Nation - News from Dec. 16, 1988

A judge in Washington refused to free a plastic surgeon who has been jailed for 16 months for refusing to allow her ex-husband to visit their 6-year-old daughter, the object of a bitter five-year custody battle. Superior Court Judge Herbert B. Dixon said that additional jail time may yet persuade Dr. Elizabeth Morgan to change her position. “This court is convinced that the coercion has only begun,” Dixon said. “As each day passes, the waste of Dr. Morgan’s personal and professional life becomes more apparent.” Dixon jailed Morgan on contempt of court charges in August, 1987, when she hid her daughter, Hilary, rather than allow her to go on a court-ordered visit with her father, northern Virginia oral surgeon Eric Foretich.