Shaken Baby Syndrome: Potential For Many Innocent People

Forensic science coming into question? What will some of these "experts" do without their pseudo science theories? While I would not quantify all scholarship in this area as illegitimate, I think the evidence has been shown that some forensic conclusions are greatly flawed due to lazy analysis, driven by megalomania, or greed with zeal as the conduit.

I have read articles over the years with great interest casting doubt on the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome.

Without giving too much information, I was close to a family whose baby died of a head bleed. The mother was charged, convicted, served time and died a broken woman at a very young age.

No one familiar with the family ever believed that she was capable of harming that precious child. The case made no sense. The scenario put forth by the prosecution was highly implausable. But the forensic "evidence" was "rock solid."

I've thought of her often over the years, and pray that she is at peace in Heaven with her child, and that their survivors find peace as well.

who knows, maybe she is "pushing" us in the right direction......even DNA is not a slam dunk....

It is about time that the public gets a better understanding of the fallibility of medical diagnosis. These cases are so emotional that I can understand a jury wanting to rely on the physical evidence alone, but it has to be taken with a grain of salt. We just don't know everything.

This is why we MUST remember that we Americans are so blessed to be Constitutionally innocent until proven guilty.

Things like this are why I get so upset when people say it's just "obvious" that someone is guilty but they haven't heard or seen any evidence yet. There, (in the shoes of the accused), but for the grace of God, go all of us.

Also, we can vote our conscience when serving on a jury. That is, we can do jury nullification.

My own family was subject to a coroner's investigation when my nephew fell down 3 stairs and died hours later of an intracranial hemorrhage. Fortunately, my family was quickly cleared, but the heartache of newspaper stories about the investigation was horrible, especially for my sister and brother-in-law. Compassion should prevail when a child dies, not eagerness to pin blame on someone.

In addition to questioning the science of this particular pronouncement, we also must better educate nurses and doctors. Before *I* was the accused, I had never heard of "Constitutional Short Stature". Neither had the Chief of Pediatrics nor the nurses at Ft Carson hospital. Six civilian MDs made this diagnosis. Even then it took $14,000 and 13 months to clear my name and get out of the DSS (CPS for some folks) system.

None of wants to see a child suffer, but we must be SURE before we accuse ANY parent.

my parents were accused once, but it was what i said that caused it.

I had a broken leg when I was 4. My parents took me to the ER and there to doc asked me "Now honey how did you break your leg" "My mommy did it"

Technically true,

She was giving me a piggy back ride in the woods, tripped over a tree root, dropped me, fell, rolled over my leg breaking it.

so she DID "do it" but not purposfully AT ALL! They were let off, but other people have cried abuse of me over the years (my eye was closed and puffy my whole life so little things would set people off) once i was in my baby carriage in the supermarket with my dad and someone called the cops. They showed up, felt my feet and said, "she just pulled them off didnt she" and left.


These are storys my parents have told me, I do not rememebr them but my parents certianly do

I wasn't impressed with that article at all, to be honest. It quotes a LAW STUDENT as if that is factual saying that medical professionals don't agree on SBS injuries being caused by intentional force. There were other flaws in the article, bad logic but I don't have the time to debunk it all. Actually, SBS injuries are caused by very violent acts against a child, thus the reason that many of them come in with skull fractures, broken ribs, femurs, retinal hemorrhages, etc.

Of course no one wants the wrong person to be prosecuted and that is horrible when it happens. Unfortunately, what I have seen in 20 years of pediatric critical care is that all too often no one is ever prosecuted or serves a day of time for horrible abuse against an innocent child.