Monday, August 02, 2010

Doctor gagged for doubting shaken baby syndrome

NewScientist magazine reports:
A PATHOLOGIST in the UK who argues that the trademark triad of symptoms of "shaken baby syndrome" (SBS) can have an innocent cause has been prevented from testifying in court as an expert witness. The restriction could stand until January 2012.

Yet, according to researchers and lawyers contacted by New Scientist, there are serious doubts about the safety of many shaken baby convictions. This is despite the fact that the triad of symptoms has been taken as evidence of murder for 40 years. ...

Since then, biomechanical studies using dummies as surrogates have concluded that shaking alone doesn't cause the classic symptoms. ...

No independent witness has ever seen a shaken baby with such symptoms, ...

A central tenet behind the original concept of shaken baby syndrome is that the abuse would sever bridging veins that drain blood from the brain and direct it back to the heart via a channel in the brain.

Research is now showing that the bridging veins of infants are strong and seldom break when subdural haemorrhages occur.
This shows how the medical establishment can line up in favor of a witchhunt. We should not be sending parents to prison for this until someone proves that the crime is even possible.

There are a few cases where the perp admitted to shaking, but that does not prove that the shaking caused the injury. Perhaps the child was already unconscious, and someone was shaking to revive the child.

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